Random idea. Not sure how well this could actually turn out, and I don't now why I'm actually publishing this since I haven't thought about it whatsoever, but I'mma wing it! I don't own anything you recognize, blah, blah, blah.


"Lester..."

Lester Dawson heaved a great sigh, dropping his briefcase on the ground after a long day of 'work.' His wife, Penny Dawson, crossed her arms and stared at him, waiting for an explanation on why he's only returning finally at eleven o'clock at night and not his usual four o'clock.

"Yes, Penny?" Lester's voice was tough. Lately his relationship with his wife has not been as smooth as it used to be when they were first married. Even then though, they constantly argued and fought a lot. Why they still kept the marriage going, nobody knew.

"Lester, it's eleven at night! Where have you been? Don't you think you should have told me that work was running late or something?" Her voice lowered drastically at the next sentence. "Ally, who may I remind you is our daughter, has been wondering where you've been all these hours! Doesn't that make you feel ashamed?"

"Penny, I'm not in the mood..."

"Lester, explain everything to me right now! What is keeping you from returning home to your family everyday it seems now?" Penny demanded. She raised her chin up to meet his eyes, and Lester growled from deep in his throat.

"Penny, I told you over the phone call earlier. The office had a malfunction and the papers needed to be done today, and I was the only one-"

"Bullshit!" Penny hissed, trying to keep her voice low so they wouldn't wake their daughter, who was sleeping soundly upstairs. Well, hopefully soundly. "Don't lie to me, Lester! That's just a bunch of fake lies!"

"What, you don't believe me?" Lester said, but his tone told the truth. Penny shook her head, squeezing her hands into fists and groaning.

"Aaarrggh! Lester, I don't even know why you and I are married still!" Penny almost yelled in frustration.

Lester laughed without humor. "Don't act like such a genius for finally realizing that, Penny. I've been thinking that for years!"

"Listen, Lester. I won't lie. I wish you and I weren't married. But for Ally's sake! Think of her! Tell me where you've been going! What you've been doing!"

"You don't give a damn about Ally!" Lester roared, and they both knew at the moment Ally would wake up, hearing her father scream her name with such anger. But neither of them cared.

Penny gasped, horrified that Lester would accuse her of such. "That's not true! You don't! You're the one who disappears all the time, not coming back until hours later, not doing a single thing for this family!"

"Not doing a single thing?" Lester screamed. "I do everything for this family! This couch, this table, the food we stock in the pantry- all because of ME. What do you do? Sit around and fucking try to learn stupid, worthless things!"

"I do things, Lester! I help make dinners, clean the house, take care of Ally!" Penny yelled.

"I'm the only reason you're doing ANY of those things, Penny! Any of those! I go to the office everyday to work, make money for us, to support is! Is that not good enough for you?" Lester screamed.

"Quiet down!" Penny gasped. "You'll wake Ally!"

Lester was so enraged he lifted his hand and struck Penny across the face. She gasped, stumbling back, holding her cheek. It wasn't the first time Lester has hit her, but the sting was always new.

"Listen to me, bitch!" Lester roared. "I work this house! I command this place! I control this family! I am above you! You will not rule this family, because you are NOTHING! You hear me bitch? NOTHING!"

"Lester Parker, you are the most selfish, ungrateful man I have ever met!" Penny screamed. "You don't deserve to be here! To be with me, to be with Ally!" Neither of them noticed little Ally quietly waling down the stairs, terrified of what she was hearing.

"If you don't like this, Penny, you can go fin another fucking family!" Lester yelled. "Apparently I'm not GOOD ENOUGH for you!" This wasn't their first fight of screaming, but it sure was their worst. Penny let out a scream, closing her eyes as Lester hit her again and again.

Ally had to speak up. She couldn't bear watching her mother get abused. "Daddy! Stop it! Stop hitting Mommy!"

They both whirled around to face her, and for a second, Ally was scared out of her skin. The look of pure rage burning in their eyes was deeper than anything Ally has ever seen in her four-year-old mind.

Then Penny let out an anguished scream that seemed to ring through the whole neighborhood. She stood up, storming into the bedroom she and Lester shared. Lester followed, muttering under his breath. In a few minutes, Penny walked out, a suitcase behind her.

"Mommy, where are you going?" Ally asked. "It's late to go on vacation!"

Penny stopped, taking a deep breath. Lester stayed behind in the shadows, glaring at them both. Ally sat on the staircase, gripping the tiny baby blanket her aunt had knitted for her when she was two. It was old and raggedy, holes forming and the yarn unwinding, but she loved and tried her best to keep it together.

Penny leaned down and kissed Ally on the forehead. "I know it's very late to go on vacation, but Mommy needs this one. I won't see you in a long time, baby."

"Where are you going?"

"Away." Penny cleared her throat, and back then, Ally didn't realize she was holding back tears. She was too busy focusing on the red marks on her mother's face, from her father's hand.

"Say goodbye to your mom, Ally," Lester called in a gruff voice, tough and commanding.

Obediently, Ally said, "goodbye, Mommy."

Penny let a single tear fall down her face. "Goodbye, sweetie." She kissed Ally on the forehead one last time, before leaving out the front door. Ally ran to the window, looking over the couch and watched as her mother waited a few moments for a taxi to arrive, and climbed in. The cab disappeared, and that was the last time Ally saw her mother.

Ally slowly sunk down on the couch, trying to comprehend what happened. But as soon as she turned back around, she felt something harsh and hard smack her across the face.

"Ouch!" Ally wailed, jumping back in surprise. "Daddy!"

"That's what you get for sneaking down here past your bedtime, little punk!" Lester roared. He grabbed Ally by the hair and threw her off the couch and shoved her in the direction of the stairs. "Go back to your room! And stay there!"

Shaking, Ally ran upstairs, clinging to her blanket. She could hear her father muttering curses under his breath behind her, and that spurred her to go faster. She didn't want to get hit again. It hurt. Is that what her mother always felt every-time they fought? How did she survive it all?

Tears dampened the front of her pillow, and she buried her face into her blanket. Her scalp ached from where her father grabbed her hair. Her cheek burned. Her hands were trembling. Is this what Mommy always felt like after their fights?

The next morning, when Ally cautiously walked downstairs and Lester stood up and stormed over to her, she knew that instead of stopping this mad parade, her father would only take his anger out on his daughter instead.


And that was when I was four. Now, I'm seventeen. I'm in high school. My dad still hits me, but only if I do something remotely out of line. And in thirteen years, I haven't heard anything from my mom. No letter, no call, nothing.

But the day she left is as clear as glass in my mind, sharp enough to make me wish my dad would hit me again, just for the sake to feel something.

That's what I thought as I dragged the razor blade across my wrist and let out a cry of emotion. Sweet, sweet, emotion.


There's chapter one. Review on what you think.

~Cynthia