TW: implied spouse abuse & verbal child abuse
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Shut up…
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Bleeding Hell!
A seventh-year-old girl tossed around in bed. Maybe she was hoping the alarm would suddenly stop working and she would have an excuse to stay in bed for the rest of the day. To her, it would be the perfect plan. Well, it would be... if it wasn't for one person.
"Would you turn off the damn alarm!"
The girl groaned at the voice of her mortal enemy coming from the other room. She finally turned towards the beeping clock and slammed her hand down on it.
"Fucking idiot kid."
She sat from her bed and kinda just stared at the wall for a minute. Mentally preparing herself for the day to come.
"Alright, let's get this shitshow rolling," she said to herself.
After getting dressed, she made her way into the kitchen where her mother was making breakfast.
"Morning baby girl." her mother said in an over-affectionate tone.
"Morning, Mom," Tessa replied less happily. The woman stopped cooking for a second and went over to her daughter. She gave her a hug and a friendly peck on the cheek.
"Stoop, I have a reputation to keep." The younger girl joked.
Her mother simply gave a sarcastic laugh.
Eileen Thomson, was once a sweet girl with a bright future. Now a forty-eight-year-old woman with messy greying hair and tired eyes. Eileen spent most of her days in the Thomson apartment. Desperately trying to find something to do while her daughter and husband are out of the house.
"You better head out before your father gets into one of his moods," Eileen said, letting her daughter escape from the hug. "OH, and could you do me a favour and get milk on your way home tonight?"
"Sure, Mom." The girl said as she made a makeshift bacon and egg sandwich for herself.
"Thank you, Tessa," Eileen said while rushing her daughter out the door. Tessa said a quick goodbye before leaving.
Tessa started tiptoeing down the hall. Hopefully, if she was quiet enough, she could sneak right by that damn woman's door.
"Stand up, straight girl!"
Bleeding Hell! Did that woman have a radar or something?
"Yes, Ms Strickland," Tessa said but kept walking. She learnt a long time ago to always give Edna Strickland basic answers and walk away. Otherwise, you'll be stuck there for hours (maybe for the rest of your life, who knows).
"And wipe that gunk off your face!" she tacked on, referring to Tessa's dark makeup.
"Yes, Ms Strickland."
"I honestly don't know what your mother is thinking when she lets you out." Edna continued ranting. "If we were family-"
If we were family, I'd neck myself.
Tessa didn't bother listening to the end of Edna's sentence. It had basically been the same stupid speech every day for the last ten years. Always finding something to complain about.
When Tessa got outside, she blocked out the sounds of Edna screaming at passersby with that bloody bullhorn of hers and started heading to school.
It felt a little sad to say out loud, but walking to school was probably one of Tessa's favourite parts of the day. Just to be clear; it wasn't because she was happy to go to school. She hated school just as much as she hated home. Tessa just enjoyed the short period where she could listen to music and didn't worry about much else.
"Morning Red," Tessa said as she passed by the homeless man's usual bench. He simply gave her a nod of acknowledgement. She made sure to slip a ten-dollar bill into the hat sitting next to the man. She always did little things that she knew would piss off James. Of course, her dear old dad never saw her doing something like this, but you know, it was the intent that counts.
By the time she got to school, she was about ten minutes late, and yet another Strickland was waiting for her.
"Miss Thomson, late again, I see."
"Yes, Mr Strickland," Tessa replied in the same deadpan way when talking to Mr Strickland's sister. Strickland proceeded to lecture her about all the same things the older Strickland did earlier while dragging her through the school.
At some point, Tessa heard voices coming around the corner. Strickland must have heard them too because he started rushing towards the sounds while still holding onto her shoulder.
"Y'know this time it wasn't my fault. The Doc set all of his clocks twenty-five minutes slow."
"Doc? Am I to understand you're still hanging around with Doctor Emmett Brown, McFly? Tardy slip for you, Miss Parker. And one for you McFly I believe that makes four in a row. Now let me give you a nickel's worth of advice, young man. This so-called 'Doctor' Brown is dangerous, that whole family is full of real nutcases. You hang around with him, and you're gonna end up in big trouble. Just look at his niece if you need any more proof." Strickland gestured to Tessa for emphasis.
Tessa found herself biting her lip in order not to argue back at the teacher's comments. She didn't exactly have a great relationship with her uncle, but that didn't give Strickland the right to talk about her family like that.
The kid ( what's his name, McFly? ) looked over to her with a raised eyebrow. "She looks fine to me."
Strickland suddenly shoved Mcfly. "You got a real attitude problem, McFly. You're a slacker. You remind me of your father when he went here, he was a slacker too."
McFly looked just about as pissed off as Tessa felt. "Can I go now, Mr Strickland?"
"I noticed your band is on the roster for dance auditions after school today. Why even bother McFly, you haven't got a chance, you're too much like your own man. No McFly ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley."
How did this man become a teacher? Tessa couldn't tell you. Hell, I couldn't tell you.
"Yeah, well, history is gonna change," McFly replied without breaking eye contact with his teacher. Tessa had to admit seeing someone stand up to Strickland like that put a smile on her face.
Tessa's mind just wasn't working for most of the day. It all just drifted by at what felt like a snail's pace.
That was until the school dance auditions at the end of the day. Tessa wasn't planning on auditioning, but sticking around and maybe hearing some decent music instead of going home straight away sounded pretty good in her mind.
About halfway through the auditions, Tessa noticed that one of the bands seemed to be panicking a bit. A girl walked over to them and they talked for a little bit until the girl, who Tessa recognized as Jennifer Parker, started waving at her.
At first, Tessa didn't realise she was waving at her to come over. She awkwardly pointed at herself and mouthed 'me?'
Jennifer nodded her head, and Tessa rushed over.
"You're Tessa, right?" She asked.
"Ummm, yeah that's me."
"I heard you playing the drums after school. Do you mind doing a favour for my friends?"
"Depends?"
"Well you see, their drummer Lee went homesick. So they need another drummer for the audition."
Tessa thought about it for a second. She had been playing the drums for a couple of years by that point. But had never played in front of other people before.
"Ahhh, What the hell. Why not?"
"Next, please." The sound of one of the judges calling out to them made Tessa jump a little.
Everyone moved towards the stage. One of the other guys told Tessa what song to play while setting up for the audition. At some point, Tessa looked towards the judges. They all seemed to be completely dead inside.
"Alright, we're the Pinheads." McFly (first name Mark I think) awkwardly said to the judges. Excellent band name by the way.
The next part was… anticlimactic, to say the least. The lot of them had just really started to get into the song when the same judge who called them up before stopped them.
"Okay, that's enough. Now stop the microphone. I'm sorry fellas. I'm afraid you're just too darn loud. Next, please. Where's the next group, please."
Too Loud. Come on, they didn't even give them a real chance. Tessa felt her shoulders slump. She had to admit that she felt kinda disappointed.
Tessa left the gym in just as bad of a mood as when she entered. So much for playing in front of people for the first time. When she made it to the town square, she noticed McFly ( his name is some starting with M, dammit! ) dragging his feet. She didn't know why, but she decided to try and talk to him.
"Hey, McFly."
The guy jumped back in surprise.
"Oh hey, Tessa." Lovely Tessa. He managed to remember your name, and he only met you once!
"I really liked your playing today," Tessa gave him a smile. "Wish I could have heard the whole thing."
"You don't mean that."
"Do too!" Tessa argued back. "It was very Van Halen."
Tessa saw his mouth smile for a second, but he quickly shook it off. "I'm too loud. I can't believe it. I feel like I'm never gonna get a chance to play in front of anybody."
"Nah those guys just have sticks stuck up their arses. I'm sure they're a ton of people who would love to hear you play."
"Nah, I just don't think I'm cut out for music."
"I'm sure that's not true. You just gotta put yourself out there."
"Alright, okay. Let's say I do that. I mean, what if people say I'm no good. What if they say, 'Get out of here, kid, you got no future.' I mean, I just don't think I can take that kind of rejection. Jesus, I'm beginning to sound like my old man."
"You can't let the fear of rejection get the better of you. Trust me, you'll be glad that you tried instead of not trying at all."
McFly looked like he was thinking about what Tessa was saying until he spotted something nearby. "Check out that four by four. That is hot."
Tessa stopped at the edge of the square and turned to look at the tricked-out four-by-four pickup truck in the showroom. Tessa had to admit, despite knowing next to nothing about cars and trucks, it was a pretty good looking vehicle.
"Yeah, nice," Tessa said while nodding her head. Tessa turned back to keep talking to McFly, only to get surprised by a random woman.
"Save the clock tower, save the clock tower. Mayor Wilson is sponsoring an initiative to replace that clock. Thirty years ago, lightning struck that clock tower, and the clock hasn't run since. We at the Hill Valley Preservation Society think it should be preserved exactly the way it is as part of our history and heritage."
Tessa just stood there for a second. She never liked it when people snuck up on her. It freaked her out. McFly must have noticed how uncomfortable she was because he moved to talk to the lady.
"Here you go, lady. There's a quarter."
"Thank you, don't forget to take a flyer." she smiled while handing a small blue flyer to him.
"Right." McFly turned back to Tessa. "Tessa, you okay?"
Tessa snapped out of whatever trance she was in.
"I'm fine, thanks." Tessa suddenly remembered the milk she was supposed to get before going home along with another important piece of information.
"Marty!" She suddenly remembered his name. And just shouted it out, like an idiot.
"Ummm yep." He said, clearly surprised by her outburst.
"Oh umm well I," Tessa stuttered for a second, then took a breath. "I would love to hear you play again sometime, but I have to get home soon."
Marty seemed to perk up at the thought of playing for someone. "Sure, can I get your number?"
Tessa grabbed the flyer and scribbled some numbers on it. When going to pass the flyer back to Marty he took the pen out of Tessa's hand and scratched some more numbers on the back of her hand.
"See you around then?" She asked.
"Sure thing." They waved goodbye to one another and went their separate ways.
After wasting some time at the drugstore, Tessa finally started heading back home. When she got back inside she realized that no one was home.
"Nice," Tessa said as she moved to put the milk in the fright
As she closed the door she spotted the numbers on the back of her hand. It had been a long time since she had given someone her number, and it was the first time she had been given someone else's number.
Is it too soon to call? It had been like an hour, right? Are you supposed to wait for them to call? Bleeding Hell.
Tessa thought about it for another couple of seconds. Then she remembered back to what she said to Marty. You'll be glad that you tried instead of not trying at all."
Tessa moved over to the phone and punched in the number. A girl whose voice Tessa didn't recognize answered.
"Who is it?"
"Oh umm, is this Marty's house?"
"Yeah, who are you?"
"My name's Tessa Thomson. Is Marty there?"
"He's busy."
"Well, could you let him know that I called?"
"Sure whatever."
Before Tessa could thank the girl she hung up. When did Tessa's hands get so sweaty?
Tessa let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She started aimlessly pacing around the apartment. At some point, she walked by the coffee table and noticed an opened photo album. Tessa kneeled down and started flipping through the pages. One of the pictures caught her eye. It was a polaroid of her and her mother standing on Santa Monica beach. It was the only time she had ever left Hill Valley. Tessa pulled it out of the sleeve to take a closer look.
Suddenly there was a click at the door, and Tessa's mother walked in with her arms filled with grocery bags.
"Hey, baby girl." Tessa didn't like the way she said that. She was trying too hard to sound casual.
"Hey Mom, is everything okay?" Tessa asked. Eileen started rushing around the apartment putting food away along with cleaning everything off the tables.
"Everything is fine, Sweetie. Your father is just having a couple of coworkers over for poker. So I needed to grab some stuff."
"Come on, really?" Tessa let out a loud groan of annoyance. James was a complete prick at the best of times, but his coworkers made everything ten times worse.
"So sweetie, I thought that you could go spend the night at your uncle's place." Eileen was still trying too hard to stay calm.
"I dunno, Mom. Maybe I should just stay here with you?"
"No no no, there's no need to do that!" Just go to Emmett's place, and come back in the morning."
The two of them just stood there, staring at each other for a while. Tessa was silently debating whether to do what her mother said.
"It'll be fine sweetie."
"Sure, Mom."
"Thanks, baby. Say hi to Einstein for me." Eileen said while wrapping Tessa up in a tight hug for a second. "Go get your stuff."
Tessa went over to her bedroom and grabbed her backpack along with a pair of old skates. Tessa simply gave her mother a nod and walked right back out the front door.
When she got outside, she slipped the skates on and started rolling down the street to her uncle's house. Well, 'house' isn't the word Tessa would use to describe it. The place looked more like a tiny storage unit for all the crazy projects her uncle liked to create.
When she got there, Tessa checked the door which must have been left unlocked earlier in the day.
"Einie? Uncle Emmett? Anyone home?"
It had been almost two years since she had last been to the place, and honestly, it hadn't changed much. It was still filled to the brim with equipment that had been accumulated over… well, who knows how long. The gear included a jet engine, piles of circuit boards, enough automobile parts to build at least two, maybe three cars, a short-wave radio, a jukebox of all things, remnants of a robot, and a shit ton of clocks.
Out of the abundance of things to look at, the first two things Tessa noticed were a blown-up speaker in the middle of the room, and a sizable pile of dog food on the floor.
Come on Uncle Em.
Tessa moved to pick up the dirty dog bowl and went outside to throw the old food and cans in the garbage.
When she got back inside, she locked the front door behind her and moved to sit in a large red armchair.
Tessa thought back to the last time she was there. It was Christmas? No, it was Halloween. James didn't like celebrating Christmas. He said it was a waste of money. Which was rich coming from him. Tessa doesn't even remember why they came to visit that day. She thought that maybe it had something to do with inheritance.
Despite living in the same town Tessa's mother and uncle barely ever talked. When she was a kid James used to say that being around Emmett would have a bad effect on their daughter. That was bullshit of course, just like how most of what he said was total crap.
Unfortunately, her mother was in no place to argue. James had too much of a tight hold on their lives at that point. Eileen was in constant fear of what her husband would do if she tried leaving.
Tessa hated it. She hated every single thing about that man. She would often daydream about running away from Hill Valley with her mother. Moving up the coast or something.
While in the middle of her daydreaming she was suddenly brought back to reality by the sound of someone unlocking the front door.
Welcome to Power of Love. A new story that I should not be starting, but hey…. I have no excuse.
If you wanna see more stuff for Tessa or my other OCs check out thecaillic
Feedback is adored and I will risk my life for you.