See Chapter 1 for disclaimer, thanks again to my reviewers and sorry about
the gap between chapters. Go on keep reviewing, you know you want to.
Chapter Six
I roll over and look at my clock, Six am, way too early for a Saturday, but I might as well get up, or Mom will be on my back. Or maybe not, she'll be sleeping of late night for a while.
To hell with it, I'll get up. I shower and dress quickly and head downstairs. The silence is almost eerie, after the events of last night, every time I think about what happened, I can't stop smiling, the cops even brought her home! Apparently she staggered into almost every bar in town, accusing complete strangers of corrupting Dad, if she wasn't a Camden, she'd probably been arrested. Then after the cops had left, Dad came home.
"Annie, I had-"Mom cut him off straight away. "Out." She'd attacked the liquor cabinet again while waiting for him. "What?" My father looked bemused. "Get out. I won't have you in this house." Her nostrils flared and she continued to snarl at him. "You're worthless useless lazy cheat and I don't need you". Dad was struck dumb, as she pushed him out the door. "But, but-, I don't understand Annie, why are you doing this?" "Oh you know exactly why I'm doing this Eric" She slammed the door and had to grab hold of the wall, to stop herself from falling over. "I don't need him, its not like he does anything. I'm the strong one in this family." She rambled on, alternately cursing my father's weakness and blaming the evil woman with no man of her own, who had stolen him.
I'm gonna leave Glenoak, I'll never be free otherwise. My desire to stay out of the house whenever possible meant that I took as many supplementary classes as humanly possible. That means that thankfully, I'm not restricted to theology. I'd like to study Modern History, maybe with a few Politics classes.
Chicago is my goal, it's far enough from Buffalo and California, that Mom or the Colonel won't be able to run my life. I can get a student loan and work so I'm not beholden to my mother. It won't be easy but I'm not afraid of change any more.
My grades are more than good enough to get into the University of Chicago and so long as I keep my grade point average up, I'll be in Chicago next September. Eight months feels like forever but I know I'm going to be free and that's all that matters.
I write Mom a short note telling her I'm going to study at the library, grab my coat and open the door. I only make it as far as the street, when I hear my Dad calling me. "Luce, Lucy." He waved at me from the car, unshaved, smelly and he looked like he hadn't slept. I felt a flash of guilt, but I suppressed it, when I beat her it will be better for everyone, including him, it's worth a little pain. You never know he might grow a backbone. "What have I done to upset your mother?" He looked broken, I resisted the urge to shake him and spoke. "She thinks you're having an affair." "That's crazy, I would never do anything to hurt her." Dad's voice quavered and he sounded like he was on the verge of crying. "If you've done nothing, don't let her treat you like this, stand up to her Dad." I pleaded. "No Luce, that would be too diffic-, uh, look marriage is complicated you wouldn't understand honey." He sighed. I nodded, resigned to his weakness and started walking towards the library.
God, he is such a coward, I can't believe he's not even going try. I reflect that it's probably a good thing that he's on leave from the church at the minute as he shouldn't be counselling anyone at the moment.
I never thought that I could manipulate her this way, but I am a Camden, I guess it's second nature to me. I should have done this years ago, I've wasted so much time being her puppet. It's not enough that I beat her; I want to make her suffer.
Chapter Six
I roll over and look at my clock, Six am, way too early for a Saturday, but I might as well get up, or Mom will be on my back. Or maybe not, she'll be sleeping of late night for a while.
To hell with it, I'll get up. I shower and dress quickly and head downstairs. The silence is almost eerie, after the events of last night, every time I think about what happened, I can't stop smiling, the cops even brought her home! Apparently she staggered into almost every bar in town, accusing complete strangers of corrupting Dad, if she wasn't a Camden, she'd probably been arrested. Then after the cops had left, Dad came home.
"Annie, I had-"Mom cut him off straight away. "Out." She'd attacked the liquor cabinet again while waiting for him. "What?" My father looked bemused. "Get out. I won't have you in this house." Her nostrils flared and she continued to snarl at him. "You're worthless useless lazy cheat and I don't need you". Dad was struck dumb, as she pushed him out the door. "But, but-, I don't understand Annie, why are you doing this?" "Oh you know exactly why I'm doing this Eric" She slammed the door and had to grab hold of the wall, to stop herself from falling over. "I don't need him, its not like he does anything. I'm the strong one in this family." She rambled on, alternately cursing my father's weakness and blaming the evil woman with no man of her own, who had stolen him.
I'm gonna leave Glenoak, I'll never be free otherwise. My desire to stay out of the house whenever possible meant that I took as many supplementary classes as humanly possible. That means that thankfully, I'm not restricted to theology. I'd like to study Modern History, maybe with a few Politics classes.
Chicago is my goal, it's far enough from Buffalo and California, that Mom or the Colonel won't be able to run my life. I can get a student loan and work so I'm not beholden to my mother. It won't be easy but I'm not afraid of change any more.
My grades are more than good enough to get into the University of Chicago and so long as I keep my grade point average up, I'll be in Chicago next September. Eight months feels like forever but I know I'm going to be free and that's all that matters.
I write Mom a short note telling her I'm going to study at the library, grab my coat and open the door. I only make it as far as the street, when I hear my Dad calling me. "Luce, Lucy." He waved at me from the car, unshaved, smelly and he looked like he hadn't slept. I felt a flash of guilt, but I suppressed it, when I beat her it will be better for everyone, including him, it's worth a little pain. You never know he might grow a backbone. "What have I done to upset your mother?" He looked broken, I resisted the urge to shake him and spoke. "She thinks you're having an affair." "That's crazy, I would never do anything to hurt her." Dad's voice quavered and he sounded like he was on the verge of crying. "If you've done nothing, don't let her treat you like this, stand up to her Dad." I pleaded. "No Luce, that would be too diffic-, uh, look marriage is complicated you wouldn't understand honey." He sighed. I nodded, resigned to his weakness and started walking towards the library.
God, he is such a coward, I can't believe he's not even going try. I reflect that it's probably a good thing that he's on leave from the church at the minute as he shouldn't be counselling anyone at the moment.
I never thought that I could manipulate her this way, but I am a Camden, I guess it's second nature to me. I should have done this years ago, I've wasted so much time being her puppet. It's not enough that I beat her; I want to make her suffer.