Disclaimer: I own nothing…as of now.
She Wondered
"Get in the closet."
"No." The defiant five-year-old replied sassily.
"I said; get in the closet." The older woman glared fiercely at the girl, her fists clenched.
"I said; no." The child met the scantily-dressed adult with equal ferocity.
"That is it!" The dark-haired one grabbed the girl by the cuff of her torn shirt, "I'll teach you to disobey me, you little shit!"
As the woman slapped her across the face, the child just stared, cold, dead, unfeeling.
"Are you crying?" The older woman noted the girl's watering brown eyes, "I'll give you something to cry about!"
The five-year-old flinched as her companion knocked her down, kicking her bruised, limp body, still sore from the last beating.
'Thump, thump, thump!' The pounding on the dilapidated motel door interrupted the woman mid-blow.
"Don't you dare move from that spot, brat."
The child couldn't. Not really. Just breathing was an effort she could barely accomplish. But the kid was determined; and there was no way she would obey that woman. Breathing in small, labored gasps, the girl rose from her fetal position, clutching her bloody stomach as she headed for the bathroom to clean herself up.
"Hey, baby; do you have it?" The woman eagerly eyed the carefully wrapped phenomenon in his hands as he entered the mess-of-a-room.
"I got it. You got what I want?"
The woman scowled. She didn't have anything. At least, not money; that was for damn sure. She needed that stuff; she couldn't survive without it. But she knew what she could give…
"Of course I do." She smiled seductively, her hands wandering to the zipper on the man's dirt-stained pants.
He smiled.
Things were looking up already.
"But first," the dark-haired seductress kept him waiting, "My package."
"I got it right here, baby." The guy shoved her head into his dick.
"No!" She pulled away, not in the mood for games. Dealing with the kid had made her testy, and she needed something-fast, "Give me it." She grabbed for the bag in the man's hand.
"Ah, ah, ah." He shook a grimy finger at the woman, "Not without payment."
"Fine." She relented, "What'll it be tonight?"
"Whatever you want, baby." He smirked.
What she wanted was for him to get the Hell out of her apartment, and for that accident to shut up and stop whimpering. If the guy got upset, she wouldn't get her stuff. Luck wasn't in the cards for her tonight.
"Hey," He zipped his pants, staring at something over the woman's shoulder, "What's that thing doing here?"
The woman turned to face the kid, pathetically making her way to the sink. Shit.
"She's a mistake."
"Then what the fuck is she doing here?"
The child wondered that too. Who would leave a little girl to spend their life with a mother that isn't worth the gum under their worn-out shoes? Some things were a mystery to her.
"She's my kid. I can't leave her on the street."
The girl wished she would. At least that way, the end would come quickly.
The man kept eyeing her, looking the girl up and down with a perverted stare. The woman caught onto his train of thought.
"You want her?"
He nodded.
"Take her. Just give me the stuff."
"Deal." The man continued staring.
"Faith! Get your filthy butt over here!"
The child ignored her. She wasn't putting up with the woman's shit now. She had to take care of herself.
"Faith! Don't make me angry!" The seductress snatched the limping child off the ground, depositing her in front of the guy, "Now give me it."
The man didn't listen, moving in on the young one with the eye of a predator.
She wasn't taking any of this BS tonight. No siree. Lunging at him, with the last of her strength, the five-year-old bit into the grime of his unwashed leg, punching him right in the eye when he bent down in pain.
The guy was angry. There was no way he was staying. Not after that.
"Bitch!" He spit at the kid, who glared at him with stone cold eyes, "I'm outta here!"
"Wait! I can still-"
"There are plenty other girls 'who can still', but I'm not wasting my time on you."
"Please!" The woman cried, clinging to his leg like a needy toddler, "I need the drugs!"
"That's not my problem." The man kicked her off with his good leg, slamming the door so hard behind him that its top unhinged.
The woman curled up on the floor, crying, delusional, vulnerable.
Faith watched her lie there, moaning and writhing. It reminded her a little of herself. Sighing, the child slouched over to the bathroom for a water-cooled towel and band-aids, returning to nurse the pitiful woman on the blood-stained rug.
"F-Faith?" She whispered, not seeing the girl in her withdrawal.
"Sh. It's okay, Mommy. I'm here."
The child knew this wasn't right. Parents shouldn't offer up their kids, or beat them, or hurt them. Five-year-olds should be looked after by their parents, not be the ones caring for them. So why was it like this? Her mommy was sick, and she knew that. But that didn't explain her other concern. If it was all so awful, just like she knew it was, why did she stay? She couldn't answer that. But she wondered.