Status: comment? pretty pretty please? (:
Whisper Wars
One.
“God dammit, Miranda! God dammit!”
The fine china cup hurls towards the kitchen floor and shatters.
“I’m sorry, Will! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do it!”
Cue the loud smacking sound and the whimpers of pain.
Lily and Hunter sit on the staircase, where they can’t see their parents, and their parents can’t see them. But they can still hear their parents’ fight. Their parents, on the other hand, can’t hear the tears that fall down their cheeks. They only speak in loud whispers, but that’s already too loud.
Lily clings tightly to her brother, letting his tears fall onto her favorite Cinderella nightgown. She doesn’t mind, though, because it’s stained with hers as well. By now, Hunter has buried his head into her chest. He’s only four and too young to know exactly what’s going on, but he knows it’s not good. He learns by example, and once his older sister starts crying, he does the same.
Lily has gone through a lot more than what any eight-year-old should have to go through. She’s watched her parents fight for over a year now, and each time, it’s the same. It starts off with Lily lying in bed, her eyes lacking a wink of tiredness. She hears the garage door open late at night, and she can hear Mom get out of bed and pace nervously in the room next to her.
That’s when Lily runs to Hunter’s room, careful that her Mom doesn’t see her. She knows what’s coming. She doesn’t need anyone to confirm it. Silently, she slides into his bed, lying next to him, and huddling close to his small body, as if he’d protect her from it all. She shuts her eyes as tightly as possible, hoping that if she did, it would just all disappear, but it never does. Before, he wouldn’t wake up. Before, they’d been much quieter and it hadn’t been as bad, so Hunter would sleep like a baby through it all. Lily still had the same reaction as she does now. She lies awake, putting her hands over her brother’s ears instead of her own. She’d rather have to listen to it all then have her brother hear a single word.
Things have changed now. Hunter can’t sleep anymore, for they’ve become too loud. He sits on the stairs with his sister as they listen to them, both drenched from all their crying. As much as Lily wants to cover Hunter’s ears, she doesn’t bother.
“You’re such a fucking screw up! You’re worthless! Worthless!”
“I-I-I’m s-sorry,” Mom’s voice is muffled from all the pain and the crying.
“No, you’re not sorry! You’re never sorry!”
Smack.
Dad’s voice rises, and goes from a loud whisper, to a loud yell. There is a slight slur in his words, probably from all the alcohol.
“Dammit, Miranda! You need to fucking learn!”
Smack.
Lily flinches each time she hears another smack. Her brother buries his head farther into his sister’s chest, scared. They both can’t explain why their parents do this. They can’t explain why they make themselves suffer by listening. They can’t explain any of it, but it’s okay. They’re only children. They don’t have to explain.
Lily knows that it’s Tuesday night. She knows that the two of them have school tomorrow. She gets on her feet and tugs on her brother’s sleeve. He looks up at her, his eyes red and puffy. His vision is blurred by the tears and only sees the silhouette of his sister towering over him. He understands her and gets up, without having to have her say a single word. They both walk up the stairs together, hand-in-hand. Lily leads Hunter to his room, tucks him in tightly, and wipes his tears with her own sleeve. She sits on his bed next to him, rubbing his back. It helps him fall asleep. Once he does, she kisses him on the cheek, then gets up and leaves, shutting the door behind her, hoping that it will help to keep the sound from getting to Hunter’s precious, innocent ears.
Of course, it’s all louder in the hallway. Lily does her best to ignore it and crosses the hall into her own room, where she quietly shuts the door as well. It isn’t perfect, but thankfully, it blocks out some of the sound, but only some of it. She doesn’t bother to wipe her face, for she knows it is a waste. The tears will only keep falling. Lily crawls into her bed and wraps herself in the covers.
Smack.
She doesn’t bother covering her ears. She knows it won’t help anyways.
The last thought she has before she falls asleep is that she doesn’t want to grow up to be like her parents.
Wednesday morning, Lily hears Mom’s soft voice tell her to wake up. Her voice tells her it’s time for school. She tells her it’s time to go. Lily gets up groggily and begins to get ready. Not once, does she look at Mom because she’s scared of what she’ll find. She’s already seen the old bruises and scratches and Lily hates finding the new ones. “I’m a bit clumsy, darling. I’m always running into things.” Mom’s excuse is always the same and it’s always half-hearted. Before, Lily use to ask about them. Then, she stopped asking, but Mom still caught her staring. Now, she doesn’t even look at Mom at all anymore.
Mom drops Hunter off at his pre-school, then drops Lily off a block away from her elementary school. Mom hates how long it takes to drop off Lily at the actual building, for the lines are stressfully long, and she knows if she’s gone too long, Dad will get mad and wonder where she was. So she drops off her daughter as close as possible before she makes a mad dash for the house. Neither she nor her daughter have ever called it ‘home.’
Lily’s school is near the beach. Today, Lily decides to go somewhere else. She doesn’t want to go to school today. Her fellow students always ask about how her night went, and she is forced to lie. Her teacher always teaches the students about family values, and she pretends to know what it feels like to have values in her family. Her class always draws family portraits to post around the classroom, and Lily has to use her imagination so her picture matches everyone else’s happy family.
After watching Mom drive away, Lily walks towards the beach, which she can see from the distance. The beach isn’t crowded, and is nice and quiet. People are at work, and it’s a bit early in the morning, so there are only a couple people spattered around the big beach. All she can hear is the waves and the few seagulls above. Lily makes her way towards the water, ignoring the sand that slips into her pink flip flops. She doesn’t care, because once she gets closer, she kicks her flip flops off and plops onto the warm sand. Her blue sunflower dress is immediately gets covered in sand, but she barely even notices.
The sun feels good because it warms her skin. Lately, she’s always been feeling cold.
She pulls off her Dora the Explorer backpack and begins to dig inside of it. The girl pulls out a piece of paper and a pencil. She doesn’t have a hard surface to write on, so she does her best, using her leg as a surface. Without any hesitation, she begins to scribble down words.
To my prince,
We haven’t met. I’m not sure if we ever will. But I hope we do sometime soon. I hope you get to know me and I won’t hurt you.
Lily
She slips the pencil back into her backpack and glances around the beach. She quickly gets up and walks along the shore, making her way to the abandoned bottle stuck in the sand. Lily pulls it out and rolls up the piece of paper. She can’t roll it up perfectly, but folds it and does whatever she can to make it fit.
Once she can get her letter into the bottle, she throws it as far as she can into the ocean. It’s not far, for she’s only eight and doesn’t have the greatest arm, but it’s far enough. The waves begin to carry the bottle away and Lily stands there, silently watching it get farther and farther.
Her eyes begin to sting, and she shuts her eyes, hoping to keep the tears from falling. She plops back down onto the sand, keeping her eyes shut. She reaches for her ears and covers them with her small hands.
She can’t see anything. She can’t hear anything.
Her mind is blank. Lily cherishes the first time she’s had quiet in a very long time, but she doesn’t expect it to last.
Her mind is blank, but it doesn’t take long for her memories take over. Then, she lets the most familiar memory take over. She’s heard it too many times that it’s not even a memory, but a tattoo in her mind.
“I’m sorry,”
Smack.
The fine china cup hurls towards the kitchen floor and shatters.
“I’m sorry, Will! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do it!”
Cue the loud smacking sound and the whimpers of pain.
Lily and Hunter sit on the staircase, where they can’t see their parents, and their parents can’t see them. But they can still hear their parents’ fight. Their parents, on the other hand, can’t hear the tears that fall down their cheeks. They only speak in loud whispers, but that’s already too loud.
Lily clings tightly to her brother, letting his tears fall onto her favorite Cinderella nightgown. She doesn’t mind, though, because it’s stained with hers as well. By now, Hunter has buried his head into her chest. He’s only four and too young to know exactly what’s going on, but he knows it’s not good. He learns by example, and once his older sister starts crying, he does the same.
Lily has gone through a lot more than what any eight-year-old should have to go through. She’s watched her parents fight for over a year now, and each time, it’s the same. It starts off with Lily lying in bed, her eyes lacking a wink of tiredness. She hears the garage door open late at night, and she can hear Mom get out of bed and pace nervously in the room next to her.
That’s when Lily runs to Hunter’s room, careful that her Mom doesn’t see her. She knows what’s coming. She doesn’t need anyone to confirm it. Silently, she slides into his bed, lying next to him, and huddling close to his small body, as if he’d protect her from it all. She shuts her eyes as tightly as possible, hoping that if she did, it would just all disappear, but it never does. Before, he wouldn’t wake up. Before, they’d been much quieter and it hadn’t been as bad, so Hunter would sleep like a baby through it all. Lily still had the same reaction as she does now. She lies awake, putting her hands over her brother’s ears instead of her own. She’d rather have to listen to it all then have her brother hear a single word.
Things have changed now. Hunter can’t sleep anymore, for they’ve become too loud. He sits on the stairs with his sister as they listen to them, both drenched from all their crying. As much as Lily wants to cover Hunter’s ears, she doesn’t bother.
“You’re such a fucking screw up! You’re worthless! Worthless!”
“I-I-I’m s-sorry,” Mom’s voice is muffled from all the pain and the crying.
“No, you’re not sorry! You’re never sorry!”
Smack.
Dad’s voice rises, and goes from a loud whisper, to a loud yell. There is a slight slur in his words, probably from all the alcohol.
“Dammit, Miranda! You need to fucking learn!”
Smack.
Lily flinches each time she hears another smack. Her brother buries his head farther into his sister’s chest, scared. They both can’t explain why their parents do this. They can’t explain why they make themselves suffer by listening. They can’t explain any of it, but it’s okay. They’re only children. They don’t have to explain.
Lily knows that it’s Tuesday night. She knows that the two of them have school tomorrow. She gets on her feet and tugs on her brother’s sleeve. He looks up at her, his eyes red and puffy. His vision is blurred by the tears and only sees the silhouette of his sister towering over him. He understands her and gets up, without having to have her say a single word. They both walk up the stairs together, hand-in-hand. Lily leads Hunter to his room, tucks him in tightly, and wipes his tears with her own sleeve. She sits on his bed next to him, rubbing his back. It helps him fall asleep. Once he does, she kisses him on the cheek, then gets up and leaves, shutting the door behind her, hoping that it will help to keep the sound from getting to Hunter’s precious, innocent ears.
Of course, it’s all louder in the hallway. Lily does her best to ignore it and crosses the hall into her own room, where she quietly shuts the door as well. It isn’t perfect, but thankfully, it blocks out some of the sound, but only some of it. She doesn’t bother to wipe her face, for she knows it is a waste. The tears will only keep falling. Lily crawls into her bed and wraps herself in the covers.
Smack.
She doesn’t bother covering her ears. She knows it won’t help anyways.
The last thought she has before she falls asleep is that she doesn’t want to grow up to be like her parents.
Wednesday morning, Lily hears Mom’s soft voice tell her to wake up. Her voice tells her it’s time for school. She tells her it’s time to go. Lily gets up groggily and begins to get ready. Not once, does she look at Mom because she’s scared of what she’ll find. She’s already seen the old bruises and scratches and Lily hates finding the new ones. “I’m a bit clumsy, darling. I’m always running into things.” Mom’s excuse is always the same and it’s always half-hearted. Before, Lily use to ask about them. Then, she stopped asking, but Mom still caught her staring. Now, she doesn’t even look at Mom at all anymore.
Mom drops Hunter off at his pre-school, then drops Lily off a block away from her elementary school. Mom hates how long it takes to drop off Lily at the actual building, for the lines are stressfully long, and she knows if she’s gone too long, Dad will get mad and wonder where she was. So she drops off her daughter as close as possible before she makes a mad dash for the house. Neither she nor her daughter have ever called it ‘home.’
Lily’s school is near the beach. Today, Lily decides to go somewhere else. She doesn’t want to go to school today. Her fellow students always ask about how her night went, and she is forced to lie. Her teacher always teaches the students about family values, and she pretends to know what it feels like to have values in her family. Her class always draws family portraits to post around the classroom, and Lily has to use her imagination so her picture matches everyone else’s happy family.
After watching Mom drive away, Lily walks towards the beach, which she can see from the distance. The beach isn’t crowded, and is nice and quiet. People are at work, and it’s a bit early in the morning, so there are only a couple people spattered around the big beach. All she can hear is the waves and the few seagulls above. Lily makes her way towards the water, ignoring the sand that slips into her pink flip flops. She doesn’t care, because once she gets closer, she kicks her flip flops off and plops onto the warm sand. Her blue sunflower dress is immediately gets covered in sand, but she barely even notices.
The sun feels good because it warms her skin. Lately, she’s always been feeling cold.
She pulls off her Dora the Explorer backpack and begins to dig inside of it. The girl pulls out a piece of paper and a pencil. She doesn’t have a hard surface to write on, so she does her best, using her leg as a surface. Without any hesitation, she begins to scribble down words.
To my prince,
We haven’t met. I’m not sure if we ever will. But I hope we do sometime soon. I hope you get to know me and I won’t hurt you.
Lily
She slips the pencil back into her backpack and glances around the beach. She quickly gets up and walks along the shore, making her way to the abandoned bottle stuck in the sand. Lily pulls it out and rolls up the piece of paper. She can’t roll it up perfectly, but folds it and does whatever she can to make it fit.
Once she can get her letter into the bottle, she throws it as far as she can into the ocean. It’s not far, for she’s only eight and doesn’t have the greatest arm, but it’s far enough. The waves begin to carry the bottle away and Lily stands there, silently watching it get farther and farther.
Her eyes begin to sting, and she shuts her eyes, hoping to keep the tears from falling. She plops back down onto the sand, keeping her eyes shut. She reaches for her ears and covers them with her small hands.
She can’t see anything. She can’t hear anything.
Her mind is blank. Lily cherishes the first time she’s had quiet in a very long time, but she doesn’t expect it to last.
Her mind is blank, but it doesn’t take long for her memories take over. Then, she lets the most familiar memory take over. She’s heard it too many times that it’s not even a memory, but a tattoo in her mind.
“I’m sorry,”
Smack.