mistymidnight
Author's Notes: Well, I'm smack-dab in the middle of revamping my site…but I'm taking a much-needed break (I can't seem to make a matching layout and color scheme) to work on fanfic, where no color scheme is needed. Yay!
Seriously, I've been busy. I have to get the site back up by Friday, because Saturday morning I'm headed down south to Texas. (My flight leaves far too early, if you ask me.) I have to pack for that trip, I was sick yesterday, and so on and so on. I did get Buffy Season Six on DVD though, and that has had a partial effect on the lack of updates.
Well, here we go!
Chapter 12Tara stared down at her feet. She was sitting on her bed, clutching Miss Kitty as tightly as she could, and she was listening to the yelling downstairs. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she flinched every time Daddy's voice rose.
"Who pays the bills?" Daddy yelled. "Who is the breadwinner in this family? Is it you?" There was silence, then the awful sound of someone being slapped. "Answer me!" Daddy roared.
Tara heard some whimpering, and then some mumbled words. She supposed Mommy had answered and that it was the answer Daddy was looking for, because she heard Daddy reply, "That's right, and don't you forget! What were you thinking? That you were Ms. High-And-Mighty-Do-As-I-Please? Let me tell you something, women like that end up dead or disgraced. You are an insult to this whole family, do you hear me? You are a disgrace! Women do not do whatever they want! They obey their husbands! It's in the wedding vows! You break our wedding vows and expect to get away with it?"
Tara heard her mother take in a shaky breath, and then say, "You a-and D-Donny w-w-were o-off, a-and I th-thought it w-would b-be f-fun…"
"You thought it would be fun?!" Daddy thundered. "No, you didn't think at all! If you had, you would have done what you were supposed to—stayed home and taken care of the house!"
Tara pulled Miss Kitty up to her face and sobbed. She got Mommy in trouble, and it was all her fault. She wanted to go downstairs and stand up for Mommy, but she was too scared. And she didn't know what to do.
Before she knew it, the door burst open and Daddy was standing there. "Oh, stop that crying," he snapped. "If you're old enough to break the rules of this house and go off with your mother, you're too old to be crying." He spotted Miss Kitty and snatched her out of Tara's hands. "And you're too old for this. No school-age daughter of mine is going to carry a stuffed animal around."
"Daddy…" Tara sobbed. "I'm sorry! I am! Don't take Miss Kitty away!"
"Miss Kitty, huh?" Daddy said. "Well, I'm sure Scout will have a lot of fun with Miss Kitty."
"No, Daddy!" Tara cried, jumping for Miss Kitty against all her better judgment. Daddy knelt down, throwing Miss Kitty to the grounds as he did, and grabbed Tara by the shoulders, shaking her. "Bad girls like you are never happy," he told her. "God sends his wrath down on them."
"No," Tara said quietly, without thinking. "The Goddess is kind to everyone—"
"The Goddess?!" Daddy shouted. "That Goddess?! Tara, that's not true. Nothing Mommy says is. Mommy is a stupid woman. The Goddess is not real. You were born in to a Christian family, and by God, you're going to grow up with Christian values, none of this pagan crap." He shook her harder, one final time, and then stood up. "It's nonsense," he said, stepping on Miss Kitty's stomach on the way out of the room. "It's all nonsense."
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I'm not sure how much I liked this chapter. Ehh…I'll post it anyway.
mistymidnight