**********Birthday Girl***********
"Twelve years old. God you're getting' big!" Daddy's voice.
"You look so nice in that dress Callie. Why don't you go on outside and play? All the neighbors are here for your party." Ok Daddy. "Ok Daddy."
Callie Daansi shifted her pink bow to the back of her hair and shimmied up her fluffy dress to jump off the kitchen chair she had been sitting on. She hardly remembered ever wearing a dress. She hadn't had a birthday party in years.
"I guess today's supposed to be special." She said to herself as she walked out of the kitchen and through the sliding glass doors, into the backyard of the one-story duplex house her family had moved into when she was ten.
Callie looked at all of the children around her. They all lived in her neighborhood, all went to her school. And she knew them all by name, though she had never talked to any of them. Instead of trying to now, she turned to her swing set in its customary place of "in the corner." Down by the slide, right where her parents had left them the night before, were the Barbie dolls they had gotten her. Callie looked down at them. The green outfit on the Malibu Barbie had already begun to tear. But ... Callie didn't care.
"How could you do this? At your own daughter's birthday party! I thought we wanted this day to be special! Get her out of her shell remember!?" Daddy's voice . "All of our neighbor's are out there Maria!"
"Oh for God's sake Peter... shut up or they'll... hear you out there! I'm not... drunk ok? And it's not like they know who YOU are! You're NEVER HOME ANYWAY!" Mommy's voice.
And with that Callie's mommy stormed out the same way her daughter had come. She ambled though the backyard with the occasional gasp from a neighbor.
"CALLIE! There you are! Come n' play sweetheart... we're all 'ere tonight... isn't that lovely?"
---------
"Yes Mommy." "That a' girl..." Callie's mommy said bending down a bit to eye level with her daughter. She looked down at the untouched Barbie dolls. "You love your mommy... don't you?" She asked with a hurt clarity.
Love?
"Yes I love you Mommy." replied Callie staring forward, pretty certain of what has going to happen next. Knowing... but not caring. "You say that..." Mommy started. "But... how can you say that to me and not mean a SINGLE word of it?" Mommy grabbed Callie by the arm and lifted up forcefully to make Callie look her in the eyes. "How?"
"Maria! Everyone is here! Let Callie go!"
With a last look of disgust, Mommy let Callie go and turned to face Daddy. And Callie didn't care. She didn't watch, and she didn't move. She just stood there. Little pink bow... frilly little dress... yelling and cuss words...Barbie dolls and pretty blue eyes staring off into nothingness... it was only and matter of time before...
"You Son..."
*******************************************************
George O'Toole was a neighbor from across the street.
"of a b****"
George couldn't believe what he had just seen. Mrs. Daansi had just decked Mr. Daansi across the face and his nose was bleeding. Mr. Daansi looked about ready to hit back. In addition, they were still standing really close to little Callie. He felt afraid for the child, so he inched forward, and when he got a chance he...
****************************************************************
Mr. O'Toole had his hand on Callie, and at first nothing was different, the voices yelling, the crowd gasping, some glass breaking, and Callie not feeling. Only then... she did...
Callie felt everything!
Mr. O'Toole was afraid... not for himself but for her. Callie pulled away from him. She ran a few steps out into the middle of her backyard. Her parents still fighting on her left and the neighbors were gawking all around her.
She felt all of them! She felt their embarrassment at the situation, their guilt and their pain... and especially their pity. The emotions came in from all around her. As she soaked up the current surface emotion, she felt the underlying ones coming through as well.
The guilt of one neighbor for not going to see her mother last week, the embarrassment of another at not bringing a gift to the party... a third with a dread to go home tonight because the nightlight was still broken and he was afraid of the dark...
Then something else happened... to Callie's already bombarded mind an emotion took control. It screamed inside of her head and drowned all of the others out. Rage. Pure, blind, and out of control. It felt like knives inside her head. She slid to the ground... down on both knees. The rage, it was coming from her parents!
Who by the way weren't paying any attention to her! She hadn't cared before... but now it made Callie mad!
Parents screaming at each other. Voices yelling emotions and memories inside her head. Rage & Fear drowning her inside of them. Sticking to her lungs so she couldn't breathe, burrowing through her bones and rushing to her brain... Callie could feel them all! Hear them all! The rage was overwhelming... nothing like it! Nothing but it... Callie couldn't stand it anymore.
All of the people were afraid now- why? What were they afraid of? Her?!
"Fine!" She spat with barrowed rage...
Let them be afraid.
She had to stop this feeling! She had to get her parents to stop being so angry! She had to make them stop hurting!
Another punch from her mother to her dad...
Mommy never notices me! Never!
A scream... mothers herding their children away from the scene... some members of the crowd just staring at her!
Daddy never listens!
Callie's head felt like it was about to blow apart. All of the fear from the crowd was gone; all of the other emotions were gone, replaced instead with the purest rage the surrounding mass had ever felt.
They had all recalled a memory that caused them to respond in a mad powerful force of rage... Callie wasn't sure how she had done it... but she pulled all of their rage into herself... into her own body... felt it like an acid smoke snaking its way into her lungs, through her bones, up her spine and into a distant part of her brain.
Callie sunk, head to the ground, black curls falling in front of her face. The rage swirled down and around in her mind, becoming concrete, hard in her head, solid and painful...
Her parents had stopped yelling... they were looking at her...
Good... you're listening!
"Mommy... Daddy... WAKE UP!!"
All swirling thoughts and blinding light, Callie looked up at her parents through her heavy head... and let go! ... But they didn't wake up... ... And Callie's head felt empty again... ... There was nothing left! Nothing left except...
"Oh My God! They're dead!" Mr. O'Toole's voice.
"What the HELL happened?!" William Matthews' voice.
"Callie?" William's voice.
~Dead?~
"My parents are dead?" But no one responded. It was obvious.
"Oh..." Callie said... And she felt nothing. And then she felt...
"God! You're a mutant!" Anna Jacobs' voice.
It was filled with hatred and fear! Callie felt it... Callie felt Anna's fear...it was almost overwhelming. But she liked it...
I love it!
She wanted to suck it all dry from Anna's stupid little head!
Callie smiled as most of her neighbors backed away from her to leave and NEVER return to this house again. She smiled as she watched the other children leave. She smiled as Anna left.
She liked to feel... even if it was just hatred. She liked to hate.
I LOVE to hate!
She vowed to herself to remember this! Remember feeling. Remember the rage that had finally shaken her awake.
"I'm calling 911" Mr. O'Toole's voice. He was afraid. Afraid of her...
Good.
Callie smiled again as she walked over to her Barbie dolls and started to play.
"Twelve years old. God you're getting' big!" Daddy's voice.
"You look so nice in that dress Callie. Why don't you go on outside and play? All the neighbors are here for your party." Ok Daddy. "Ok Daddy."
Callie Daansi shifted her pink bow to the back of her hair and shimmied up her fluffy dress to jump off the kitchen chair she had been sitting on. She hardly remembered ever wearing a dress. She hadn't had a birthday party in years.
"I guess today's supposed to be special." She said to herself as she walked out of the kitchen and through the sliding glass doors, into the backyard of the one-story duplex house her family had moved into when she was ten.
Callie looked at all of the children around her. They all lived in her neighborhood, all went to her school. And she knew them all by name, though she had never talked to any of them. Instead of trying to now, she turned to her swing set in its customary place of "in the corner." Down by the slide, right where her parents had left them the night before, were the Barbie dolls they had gotten her. Callie looked down at them. The green outfit on the Malibu Barbie had already begun to tear. But ... Callie didn't care.
"How could you do this? At your own daughter's birthday party! I thought we wanted this day to be special! Get her out of her shell remember!?" Daddy's voice . "All of our neighbor's are out there Maria!"
"Oh for God's sake Peter... shut up or they'll... hear you out there! I'm not... drunk ok? And it's not like they know who YOU are! You're NEVER HOME ANYWAY!" Mommy's voice.
And with that Callie's mommy stormed out the same way her daughter had come. She ambled though the backyard with the occasional gasp from a neighbor.
"CALLIE! There you are! Come n' play sweetheart... we're all 'ere tonight... isn't that lovely?"
---------
"Yes Mommy." "That a' girl..." Callie's mommy said bending down a bit to eye level with her daughter. She looked down at the untouched Barbie dolls. "You love your mommy... don't you?" She asked with a hurt clarity.
Love?
"Yes I love you Mommy." replied Callie staring forward, pretty certain of what has going to happen next. Knowing... but not caring. "You say that..." Mommy started. "But... how can you say that to me and not mean a SINGLE word of it?" Mommy grabbed Callie by the arm and lifted up forcefully to make Callie look her in the eyes. "How?"
"Maria! Everyone is here! Let Callie go!"
With a last look of disgust, Mommy let Callie go and turned to face Daddy. And Callie didn't care. She didn't watch, and she didn't move. She just stood there. Little pink bow... frilly little dress... yelling and cuss words...Barbie dolls and pretty blue eyes staring off into nothingness... it was only and matter of time before...
"You Son..."
*******************************************************
George O'Toole was a neighbor from across the street.
"of a b****"
George couldn't believe what he had just seen. Mrs. Daansi had just decked Mr. Daansi across the face and his nose was bleeding. Mr. Daansi looked about ready to hit back. In addition, they were still standing really close to little Callie. He felt afraid for the child, so he inched forward, and when he got a chance he...
****************************************************************
Mr. O'Toole had his hand on Callie, and at first nothing was different, the voices yelling, the crowd gasping, some glass breaking, and Callie not feeling. Only then... she did...
Callie felt everything!
Mr. O'Toole was afraid... not for himself but for her. Callie pulled away from him. She ran a few steps out into the middle of her backyard. Her parents still fighting on her left and the neighbors were gawking all around her.
She felt all of them! She felt their embarrassment at the situation, their guilt and their pain... and especially their pity. The emotions came in from all around her. As she soaked up the current surface emotion, she felt the underlying ones coming through as well.
The guilt of one neighbor for not going to see her mother last week, the embarrassment of another at not bringing a gift to the party... a third with a dread to go home tonight because the nightlight was still broken and he was afraid of the dark...
Then something else happened... to Callie's already bombarded mind an emotion took control. It screamed inside of her head and drowned all of the others out. Rage. Pure, blind, and out of control. It felt like knives inside her head. She slid to the ground... down on both knees. The rage, it was coming from her parents!
Who by the way weren't paying any attention to her! She hadn't cared before... but now it made Callie mad!
Parents screaming at each other. Voices yelling emotions and memories inside her head. Rage & Fear drowning her inside of them. Sticking to her lungs so she couldn't breathe, burrowing through her bones and rushing to her brain... Callie could feel them all! Hear them all! The rage was overwhelming... nothing like it! Nothing but it... Callie couldn't stand it anymore.
All of the people were afraid now- why? What were they afraid of? Her?!
"Fine!" She spat with barrowed rage...
Let them be afraid.
She had to stop this feeling! She had to get her parents to stop being so angry! She had to make them stop hurting!
Another punch from her mother to her dad...
Mommy never notices me! Never!
A scream... mothers herding their children away from the scene... some members of the crowd just staring at her!
Daddy never listens!
Callie's head felt like it was about to blow apart. All of the fear from the crowd was gone; all of the other emotions were gone, replaced instead with the purest rage the surrounding mass had ever felt.
They had all recalled a memory that caused them to respond in a mad powerful force of rage... Callie wasn't sure how she had done it... but she pulled all of their rage into herself... into her own body... felt it like an acid smoke snaking its way into her lungs, through her bones, up her spine and into a distant part of her brain.
Callie sunk, head to the ground, black curls falling in front of her face. The rage swirled down and around in her mind, becoming concrete, hard in her head, solid and painful...
Her parents had stopped yelling... they were looking at her...
Good... you're listening!
"Mommy... Daddy... WAKE UP!!"
All swirling thoughts and blinding light, Callie looked up at her parents through her heavy head... and let go! ... But they didn't wake up... ... And Callie's head felt empty again... ... There was nothing left! Nothing left except...
"Oh My God! They're dead!" Mr. O'Toole's voice.
"What the HELL happened?!" William Matthews' voice.
"Callie?" William's voice.
~Dead?~
"My parents are dead?" But no one responded. It was obvious.
"Oh..." Callie said... And she felt nothing. And then she felt...
"God! You're a mutant!" Anna Jacobs' voice.
It was filled with hatred and fear! Callie felt it... Callie felt Anna's fear...it was almost overwhelming. But she liked it...
I love it!
She wanted to suck it all dry from Anna's stupid little head!
Callie smiled as most of her neighbors backed away from her to leave and NEVER return to this house again. She smiled as she watched the other children leave. She smiled as Anna left.
She liked to feel... even if it was just hatred. She liked to hate.
I LOVE to hate!
She vowed to herself to remember this! Remember feeling. Remember the rage that had finally shaken her awake.
"I'm calling 911" Mr. O'Toole's voice. He was afraid. Afraid of her...
Good.
Callie smiled again as she walked over to her Barbie dolls and started to play.