Status: Hi there! If anyone wants to contribute a character or co-write, hit me up!!
Rumor Has It...
Birdies
"Patti baby, look at me. Look at me sweetheart. I need you to go into the bathroom, okay? Lock the door, lock it tight, and pray. Don't let your daddy in baby, you hear me? Don't you dare." My mother smiled, a terrifying grimace that seeped through the thin veil of blood and tears covering her face. Her perfect button nose, the one that I admired everytime I looked in the singular mirror of our household, seemed off, crooked and deformed. "Mommy, I'm scared." The words fall off my lips, pool on the floor around our knees with all the other unspoken emotions we've contained. "I know sweety, I know. But there's no reason to be. Look at me good Bunny. Do I look scared?" Mom pushes back her knotted jumble of honey blonde locks and smiles, her hands searching, smooth palms and long fingers struggling to find a place to hold onto, a lifeline to grip onto.
I shake my head, the staggering footsteps of my drunken stepfather, Gage, growing ever closer, his stench growing ever more pugnent. I panic, despite the numerous times we've been through this, she and I. I cling to her dress, ignoring the slick blood stains that can only mean she's wounded. I slide on the puddle of feelings, crawl into her lap, a desperate scramble, a last chance. "I love you mommy, I love you." My words are hushed, hurried, but delivered with every feeling I've ever felt. Hate for Gage. Love for my mother. Sorrow for us both. Jealousy, anger, hurt, pain. I give it all away, hand it to the one person I trust more than anyone.
"I love you too baby girl. I'll be back, promise. Then we'll brush your Barbies' hair, and bake Upside Down Cake, and we'll- we'll play birds. Alright?" She sticks out her pinky, the tears welling in her eyes outshone by her radiant smile. I hook my little finger around hers, though I know her words are empty, broken promises whispered in the dark of my closet.
"Alright." I say the word with conviction, the mindless hope of a childs imagination wandering in a childs world. "Okay Bunny. Now hurry, run to the bathroom. Do exactly what Momma told you, okay?" I nod solemnly, give her the tiniest of a smile, and pat the packed suitcase resting alongside the small purse packed with my small trinkets and toys. Momma promised we'd leave today. She told me to be ready.
"We have a date Bunny girl, don't forget." Momma whispers, delaying my escape by trapping me in a bone crushing hug, one that stops my breath and makes me ponder what I did to deserve it. Gage draws closer. I can hear him checking Kaylee's, his eldest daughter, room, which just so happens to be down the hall. I dash out of my mothers embrace and into the bathroom tucked into an alcove of my room. Quickly, I steal a glance at my mother, with her pixie like features, green eyes too big for her face, and button nose I cherished.
I slam the door just as Gage barges into my room, lock it as he howls at my mother, mad words caused by a rotten state of mind. I huddle in the corner, screw my eyes up tight and pray, for her, for me. For the door to hold against Gage when he comes in the night. For a chance to play Birdies with my mom again. For a life away from this house, and the family that owns it.
I pray with everything I have left, every tiny fear, hope, and dream. I hiss, and cry, and throw myself on the floor infront of the tiny cross my mother hung as a decoration when we christened the room. I do everything I can think of to give my mother a fighting chance, but I know in my heart it's not enough. I hear with my ears it's not enough. Two days from now I will see in the paper it wasn't enough, and in a weeks time I'll scream that it wasn't enough.
It was a dream. A childs dream slaughtered by the harsh chill of reality. The ferocious bite that killed my mother and took away my faith, ripped both away with steady hands. My stepfather, Gage, who rode out the war on a doves silken wings.
I shake my head, the staggering footsteps of my drunken stepfather, Gage, growing ever closer, his stench growing ever more pugnent. I panic, despite the numerous times we've been through this, she and I. I cling to her dress, ignoring the slick blood stains that can only mean she's wounded. I slide on the puddle of feelings, crawl into her lap, a desperate scramble, a last chance. "I love you mommy, I love you." My words are hushed, hurried, but delivered with every feeling I've ever felt. Hate for Gage. Love for my mother. Sorrow for us both. Jealousy, anger, hurt, pain. I give it all away, hand it to the one person I trust more than anyone.
"I love you too baby girl. I'll be back, promise. Then we'll brush your Barbies' hair, and bake Upside Down Cake, and we'll- we'll play birds. Alright?" She sticks out her pinky, the tears welling in her eyes outshone by her radiant smile. I hook my little finger around hers, though I know her words are empty, broken promises whispered in the dark of my closet.
"Alright." I say the word with conviction, the mindless hope of a childs imagination wandering in a childs world. "Okay Bunny. Now hurry, run to the bathroom. Do exactly what Momma told you, okay?" I nod solemnly, give her the tiniest of a smile, and pat the packed suitcase resting alongside the small purse packed with my small trinkets and toys. Momma promised we'd leave today. She told me to be ready.
"We have a date Bunny girl, don't forget." Momma whispers, delaying my escape by trapping me in a bone crushing hug, one that stops my breath and makes me ponder what I did to deserve it. Gage draws closer. I can hear him checking Kaylee's, his eldest daughter, room, which just so happens to be down the hall. I dash out of my mothers embrace and into the bathroom tucked into an alcove of my room. Quickly, I steal a glance at my mother, with her pixie like features, green eyes too big for her face, and button nose I cherished.
I slam the door just as Gage barges into my room, lock it as he howls at my mother, mad words caused by a rotten state of mind. I huddle in the corner, screw my eyes up tight and pray, for her, for me. For the door to hold against Gage when he comes in the night. For a chance to play Birdies with my mom again. For a life away from this house, and the family that owns it.
I pray with everything I have left, every tiny fear, hope, and dream. I hiss, and cry, and throw myself on the floor infront of the tiny cross my mother hung as a decoration when we christened the room. I do everything I can think of to give my mother a fighting chance, but I know in my heart it's not enough. I hear with my ears it's not enough. Two days from now I will see in the paper it wasn't enough, and in a weeks time I'll scream that it wasn't enough.
It was a dream. A childs dream slaughtered by the harsh chill of reality. The ferocious bite that killed my mother and took away my faith, ripped both away with steady hands. My stepfather, Gage, who rode out the war on a doves silken wings.