Disclaimer: I do not own the Divergent series.
A/N: Hi there! My friend (fellow fanfic author Robert M.) and I were thinking about how awful of a mother Jeanine would be, so here are some drabbles about the things she'd do to her daughter. Chapters are not necessarily organized by age; more of a random recollection of moments.
Please read and review! Thanks for reading and have a good day :)
NOTE: this chapter was previously chapter 4 but has been moved to open the story instead.
Mommy Dearest
Chapter 1
I don't really remember it, but according to Mom, my actual birth was embarrassing. My foot had gotten stuck when I was coming out, and I had accidentally scratched Mom when I wiggled to get free. She said it had hurt, and when the doctors finally pulled me out, she wasn't too happy about the ordeal.
My name is f12g94r Matthews, and my mom is Jeanine Matthews. Everyone else just calls me F, but Mom doesn't like that because she gave me my name so that she could track me wherever I went. To her, I am the living replica of her DNA, and I am to be nourished and protected so that I can one day take her place as the leader of Erudite.
People always feel sorry for me, but I don't know why. I really love my mom.
Age 8
I really liked school. I learned so many useful things, like how to tie my shoes, how to play patty cake, how to jump rope, and how to annihilate anyone that threatened my mother.
Specifically, as an Erudite, I learned how to hone and honor questions. Everything in life could be questioned and analyzed, so asking a question was akin to breathing in air. It was a very natural thing to do, and indeed, it was something I did often, like when I came across a foreign term while snooping around my house.
"Mrs. Applebaum?" I asked one day when I saw my teacher walking peaceably in the hallway. Mrs. Applebaum was an older, thickset woman with black, heavy glasses and a dark peach fuzz of a mustache, and she always wore sleek, ruffled suits of varying shades of blue. She was a true, thoroughbred Erudite like Mom and myself, and in a lot ways, I felt like she was someone I could trust.
"Yes, F?"
"May I ask you a question?"
"Certainly, dear.
"What's a Margaritaville?"
"W-what?"
"A Margaritaville," I repeated, slower this time. Did I mispronounce it or something? She looked really taken aback. "It looks like a blender, and Mom pours some clear stuff called 'Tequila' into it. She blends it with ice and fruit juice, and at ten o'clock every night on her master schedule, she refers to it as 'mixing alcoholic drink.'" Mrs. Applebaum's eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets, but I just couldn't help it. "What's 'alcoholic'?"
"Why, I – Your mother is!" Mrs. Applebaum halted mid-step, her jaw open and her nose crinkled. The atmosphere had changed from friendly to feral, and before she even said anything, I knew this wasn't going to end nicely. "Alcohol has been outlawed per your mother's request. She personally drove the truck of the remaining contents and disposed of it beyond the wall. Are you telling me that she just took all of it back to your house?"
"I-I don't know," I answered. I was starting to get nervous. Why oh why did I have to be so curious! "I'm probably mistaken, Mrs. Applebaum. I am nothing but a petty little girl."
"Oh no you don't!" Mrs. Applebaum was standing right in front of my face, and I wondered what would happen if I reached out and touched her mustache. "That's just what your mother tells you to say! What do you really know?"
"N-nothing." Stand tall and look directly into their eyes. I could practically hear Mom's voice. "I know nothing. I am nothing."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Mom! Mom!" I pulled open the front door and then burst inside, not even bothering to take off my shoes. "Mom!"
"f12g94r?" Mom stepped out of the bathroom with a towel on her head and a mask of green mud on her face. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in school!" She was holding one of her "alcoholic drinks" in her hand, and I knew desperately that it was almost too late.
"Mom, they're coming!"
At that she stopped, her towel falling off to reveal a large nest of curlers. "What did you just say?"
"They're coming!"
"Who's 'they', f12g94r?"
"Mrs. Applebaum and some other people! I told them about your Margaritaville!"
"You what?!"
"It was an accident! I swear I'd never try to hurt you, Mom! I still don't even know what it is!"
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Mom set her drink down on the bathroom sink and then pointed towards the kitchen. "You know what to do."
I'd never seen Mom make so many "alcoholic drinks" at one time. She kept throwing ice and that clear stuff into the Margaritaville while simultaneously gulping down an entire pitcher of the stuff. I merely stood there and watched, handing her fruit juice and cleaning up when she spilled. I honestly didn't think she would stop. After a few minutes, however, she finally did stop, and she finally looked over at me.
"f12g94r," she said, turning her entire body around. She started to fall, and as she clutched the kitchen counter for support, I went over to her and held onto her waist, aware that Mrs. Applebaum could walk in at any second.
"What are we gonna do, Mom?" I asked, looking up at her face. She let out a burp, and she then started to laugh uncontrollably. I'd often wondered what Mom's laugh would sound like since she never laughed before, but even though the light, infectious sound was pleasant to my ears, I knew this wasn't the right time to be laughing.
A few months ago, Mom had taken me into her office and showed me something. She said that there might come a time when she's incapable of taking care of herself and where people are out to get her, and she told me that I had to do my best to save her and to ultimately save Erudite. She told me that she hid memory serums all around the house and that I was supposed to inject any intruders with it if they threatened her existence.
Well, I didn't know if this constituted as a true threat to Mom's existence, but I knew that Mrs. Applebaum was angry and that she probably wanted to hurt Mom. Taking care to set Mom down at the dining table, I went under the sink and grabbed the vial of memory serum above the plumbing, filling it with the blue liquid just as Mom had showed me.
"Jeanine, I know you're in here!" I suddenly heard Mrs. Applebaum's low, raspy voice, and as I ran around to the other side of the kitchen counter to spy on her, I saw her force her way into my house. "Your little smart ass daughter told me all your secrets!"
Smart ass? That was one of the forbidden words of the English language. Only barbarians used them, Mom had said, and so like barbarians they would be treated. Crouching there behind the garbage can, I saw Mrs. Applebaum through a different kind of lens. She was an old, ugly has-been breaking into my house and screaming bad words at my mother, and at that moment, it was my responsibility to save Mom from any further threat.
Without warning, I jumped out from behind the counter and landed on top of Mrs. Applebaum's back. Surprised, she merely stood there and flailed her arms around like a monkey as I pressed the needle into her neck.
"I'm nothing but a petty little girl," I whispered, pressing down on the syringe. Mrs. Applebaum's eyes started to dull, and I looked away. I wasn't that into it. "I know nothing. I am nothing."
When her memory was reset, I ordered Mrs. Applebaum to tell everyone that she was senile and that she had made a false accusation, and as she quietly left my house, I looked over at Mom. She was now passed out with her head smashed ungraciously on the table, and I went over to her and untangled her hair.
"I did it, Mom," I said, pulling up another chair and sitting next to her so that I was holding her. She started to snore, and I pressed my cheek to the side of her face. "Mrs. Applebaum threatened you, so I annihilated her memory. Aren't you proud of me, Mom?"