A/N: Well happy Independence Day everyone. It's raining where I live. This is a songfic to "Independence Day" I have the version sung by Carrie Underwood but I think it's originally someone else sang it. The Star Spangled Banner (which is in the middle) is not mine.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Well she seemed alright by dawn's early light
Though she looked a little worried and weak
She tried to pretend he wasn't drinkin' again
But daddy left the proof on her cheek
And I was only eight years old that summer
And I always seemed to be in the way
So I took myself down to the fair in town
On Independence Day
Allison lay in her bed listening to heavy footsteps on the back porch. Clunk! Clunk! She heard the old screen door creak open then hit against the stone of their little house. It was nearly dawn, the sun was just rising from the trees outside her window. The loud footsteps were now on their rickety staircase. It had been the same thing for last two weeks, her father would come home drunk and mother would do her best to clean him up before going down to make breakfast. Allison just stayed in bed pretending to sleep, pretending her father was drinking himself into a stupor every night. No one recognized this nightly ritual but that didn't mean it didn't happen.
A little less then an hour later her mother called her down for breakfast. She obediently got out of bed and mulled downstairs. Her mother was flipping pancakes and her father was reading the newspaper. When see her father looked over the paper and smiled. He looked not only tired and obviously stoned. Both parents smiled and wished her a happy Independence Day. She had forgotten. She shoved down some pancakes and told her parents she was going down to the fair. Father kissed her on the cheek. His breath smelled strongly of alcohol and now so did her cheek. When she was out of sight she wiped her cheek off hoping it would no long smell of that awful alcohol. As she walked down the road to the town square where the fair was held every year.
Well word gets around in a small, small town
They said he was a dangerous man
But mama was proud and she stood her ground
She knew she was on the losin end
Some folks whispered, some folks talked
But everybody looked the other way
And when time ran out there was no was about
On Independence Day
As soon as she came on fair grounds heads turned. She could almost see them say That's the drunkard Mr. Ray's poor daughter. It seemed to be the only topic of conversation no matter what age you were. The population was only in the hundreds, so gossip flew faster than anything. As she passed she could see the older women surveying her as if she had just been in a car crash. She bit her tongue like her mother told her too. No use lashing out at people for insulting you she used to say. She spotted her group of friends. They stopped their talking and laughing abruptly as soon as she reached them. Her best friend, Jessica, smirked when she spotted her.
"Well if it isn't the drunkard's daughter." Jessica announced smugly. Allison once again bit her tongue and resisted the urge to kick her.
"I almost feel sorry for you. Of course the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, you'll be just like your dad in few years." She continued with the same smugness. The other two girls chuckled slightly as if agreeing but Allison could see sorrow in their eyes. Allison scowled, holding back tears.
"I thought you were my friend." She croaked, tears now streaming down her face. Jessica heartlessly rolled her eyes and strutted away the other two girls followed. Allison ran towards the edge of fair grounds tears streaming down her face and sat down for God knows not how long.
Let freedom ring
Let the white dove sing
Let the whole world know that today
is a day of reckoning
Let the weak be strong
Let the right be wrong
Roll the stone away
Let the guilty pay
It's Independence Day
Happy Independence Day! she thought as she kicked the dust under her feet. Everything was just wrong. A drunken father, no friends, and being the center of town gossip. This was supposed to be Independence Day, a day to be happy and celebrate. To thank our forefathers dying to let us live in a free country. What happened to "Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land." or "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave". World peace, town peace how would that ever happen? If God knew Adam and Eve were going to sin why did he let them? Why can't we all be in the Garden of Eden right now? What happened to God being with you when you needed him most? Where was he now? Why wasn't he kicking Jessica in the ass about now? Questions spun though her head as she dried her tears. She folded her hands piously and began to pray and she almost felt better. She heard the national anthem playing the background and she couldn't help but scowl at the words "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!" Fireworks exploded in the background but she didn't even look up.
Well she lit up the sky the 4th of July
by the time that the fireman came
They just put out the flames and took down some names
And sent me to the county home
Now I ain't sayin it's right or it's wrong
But maybe it's the only way
Talk about your revolution
It's Independence Day
It was getting very late and the fair grounds were almost empty. She got off the log she had been sitting on her the past several hours realizing her hunger. As she walked down the road she could see a blazing fire. She paid little attention to it lost in her own musings. As she came to her street she could see it had completely demolished a house. Her house. She ran down the street frantically. As she got closer she could see the fireman were putting out the flames. She scanned the area for her parents but found no one but frightened neighbors.
"Are you Miss Allison Ray?" a fireman asked me. She nodded numbly. "I'm sorry little missy your parents died in that monster fire don't worry your going to a place were people are going to take good care of you." He wrote something on a piece of paper as little Allison started to wept. Where was God now? She thought bitterly. She wanted to run but her feet wouldn't move. Minutes later she was lead in the police car to that escorted her to the orphanage she would spend the next six months in before the Cameron family adopted her.
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Let freedom ring
Let the white dove sing
Let the whole world know that today
is a day of reckoning
let the weak be strong
Let the right be wrong
Roll the stone away
Let the guilty pay
It's Independence Day
Allison remembered that Independence Day almost twenty-five years earlier like it was yesterday. She remembered the orphanage. She remembered her parents. Fireworks went off in the distance as she stood on the roof of Princeton Plainsbro Teaching Hospital. Even when she had a happy life with the Cameron family she had never liked the 4th of July. She never even told Susan and Peter Cameron that her parents had died on the day that was supposed to be a day of celebration, not even when her husband died on that day ten years ago. That night was probably the reason she was a atheist even though she went to Church every Sunday of her childhood. And peace? World peace only seemed farther and farther away.
After the Independence day that her husband died she swore never to cry on another Independence day and each year it became a little harder not to, this year was no exception. She forced back tears for what seemed like the billionth time since she arrived at Princeton and just like every other independence day alone. Her musings were interrupted by the sound of a cane on the stairs. She almost smiled. Happy Independence Day.
A/N: I hoped you liked it. It was really far fetched but the plot bunny attacked me! Please review even if you think it sucked.