-1Degrassi: The Third Generation
By: Ithurtssogood
Episode. 9
"The Smile Has Left Your Eyes"
Part Two
Named After The Song by Asia.
"Kelly, where the hell is my breakfast?" Jay Hogart roared from the couch. His filthy sock-covered feet lay propped up on the end while he scratched his dirty blond hair. His daughter, Kelly Hogart, entered the living room and stood before him.
"Mom's almost done, just hold on Dad." Kelly said, wincing a little as she spit out the word 'Dad'. Jay had been out of her life for nine years and he suddenly wanted to reappear. Not to mention, Jay had a horrible temper and beat her mother.
"Excuse me?" Jay said, his voice tinged with anger. He swung his legs off of the couch and stood up. "Watch your tone, Kelly."
"What tone?" Kelly questioned, her voice rising a little. Her father took a step closer and then slapped her across the face.
"That tone." Jay said, narrowing his washed-out blue eyes. Kelly stood rooted to the spot, clutching her cheek where she'd been hit. "Go get my damn breakfast! Now!" Jay shouted, slapping his daughter again. Hot tears shot from Kelly's grey eyes as she turned back into the kitchen.
Alex Nuñez, her once strong mother, stood over the stove frying bacon. Ever since Jay arrived, Alex had become a gloomy servant to her ex-husband. Alex looked up and saw Kelly crying, she turned off the stove and embraced her daughter.
"I'm so sorry…" Alex whispered into her daughter's ear.
"For w-what?" Kelly choked.
"I'm sorry that I can't protect you."
"You try…"
"But it only gets us hurt," Alex said, wiping a tear from her brown eyes. "I want him gone too, just hang in there."
"You want me gone?" Jay's voice sent shivers down the women's backs. They were completely lost in their mother-daughter moment that they didn't hear Jay enter.
"No, that's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?" Jay asked, edging closer to them. Alex and Kelly moved towards the table.
"N-nothing. Your breakfast's done."
"What did you mean, Alex? You want me gone?"
"Dad, stop!" Kelly screeched as Jay walked around the table. Kelly and her mother moved in the opposite direction. Jay just laughed.
The table was tossed, slaps were given, punches were sent…just another family breakfast at the Hogarts…
xxx
Kelly sighed when she reached the DCS' main hall's bathroom. Taking off her hood, she walked over to the clean white sink and peered into the mirror. The person she saw looked completely different than the one a few weeks ago.
A few weeks ago, Kelly always wore a smile on her face and her skin was clearer than the sky in the summer. Now her full lips were pulled into a frown and her face had a huge purple bruise under her left eye.
A teardrop fell into the sink. For the past two weeks since her dad's been home, Kelly's grey eyes had been gushing tears. Her thin fingers traced around the big bruise. Sliding her purse off of her shoulder, Kelly unzipped it and grabbed some concealer. Tears still dripping off of her cheeks, she dabbed the makeup on her face.
Some quiet sobs and lots of makeup later, Kelly's bruise was perfectly concealed. She looked at herself in the mirror again, playing with her chocolate locks until they fell into place the way she liked. She stared at her face again, the bruise had been completely covered, but she could still feel it when her fingers grazed it.
Kelly never imagined her life to turn out like it has been. She never thought she'd become a battered daughter.
xxx
Mariana Aoyama sat with her legs crossed in the main office. It was only five minutes before she and Kelly went on air for the morning announcements and she was rehearsing her lines. Two weeks ago, her mother Manuela Santos, had finally spoken to her again but quickly turned on her. Her mom wasn't angry with her or anything, she just suffered from horrible depression.
She flipped the page and read on about this weeks club meetings. But no matter how hard Mariana tried to focus on the news, her mind kept going back to her mom. Manny, as she's known by friends, had been depressed ever since her husband died fourteen years ago. Mariana has been trying to cheer her mom back up for years now, but every attempt had been shot down.
"The AV Club will meet Thursday after school…" Mariana whispered to herself, trying to block out images of her mother sitting alone at home, locked in her bedroom. She hoped her mom went to work today, it had been almost a week since Manny stopped going to work as the news anchor for Toronto Five News.
The door to the office opened suddenly and Kelly barged in. Mariana gave a friendly nod and continued reading her script. Kelly took a seat beside her best friend and picked up her own script, the two sat in silence for a moment.
"You okay?" Kelly's soft voice whispered, piercing the silence. Mariana looked up at her friend and nodded, a huge smile spread across her face.
"You sure?" Kelly asked again.
"I'm sure why?" Mariana choked. It was then she realized how warm her cheeks felt, she brought her fingers to her cheek and felt the tears falling. She had been crying the whole time and hadn't even notice.
Kelly wrapped a thin arm around Mariana's shoulders, "Let's get through these announcements, then we'll talk." Mariana took a deep breath and shrugged off her friend's arm.
"I'm fine, Kelly!" Mariana shouted, standing up. The principal, Ms. Kennedy, exited her office and told the girls it was time for them to go on. Mariana wiped all of the tears from her face with the sleeve of her cashmere sweater while Kelly checked her cheek in the nearest mirror.
Seconds later, the pair entered through the door on the side of Ms. Kennedy's office. The two girls proceeded to their stools without even looking at one another. Taking their seats in front of the camera, Larry, the acne riddled cameraman, counted them off.
"Good morning, Degrassi Community School!" Kelly and Mariana said in unison, bright smiles spread across their faces.
"It's Mariana Aoyama," Mariana giggled, blowing a kiss and winking at the camera.
"And Kelly Hogart!" Kelly said, giving the camera the peace sign.
"Hey, Panthers! One week until Christmas and today's the last day before Winter Break! Now, let's talk about today's clubs meetings…" Mariana stated.
xxx
Mariana and Kelly's days both whizzed by at amazing speeds. Both girls went through the school day in a haze, barely registering that they were even at school. They couldn't stop thinking about what was waiting for them at home. And of course, the last bell of the day rang.
xxx
Mariana sighed loudly as she pushed her key into her front door. The door pushed open and the brunette stepped inside her home. Placing her keys on the table and her bag in the chair, she proceeded to the stairs.
"Mom?" She called from the first step. Of course no one replied. Mariana rolled her eyes and began to ascend the steps. Manny's door was shut when Mariana reached it and she had a hard time getting it open, finally after a bit of a struggle, Mariana got the wooden door to open.
She slipped inside and discovered her mom sitting up in bed, her hair and clothes still a mess, but she was sitting up! The windows were even closed! The lights were on! It was like a revolution.
"We really need to get that door fixed, I'm not going to-" Mariana started.
"I lost my job." Manny blurted out. Mariana's brown eyes widened at her mother's statement.
"What?" Mariana gasped, taking a step closer. "Didn't I tell you this would happen? I told you to go to work! Now what are we going to do? I can't work yet, I'm not sixteen!"
Manny smiled and scratched her tangled hair, "Don't worry, they said once I'm better again, they'll give me my job back." Mariana stopped freaking out and smiled.
"Are you feeling better?" Mariana questioned excitedly, sitting on the edge of her mother's giant bed. Manny bowed her head for a moment and then raised it.
"I think so…"
Mariana instantly began to cry, tears streaming down her face like a broken faucet. Her mother wrapped an arm around her shoulders and brought her closer. Then Mariana suddenly perked up, she had sat on something strange under the covers.
"What's this?" She questioned, getting off the bed feeling under the blankets. Manny desperately tried to move whatever it was under there away from her daughter's groping hand. Unfortunately, Mariana's hands fell on all three small, empty bottles. She pulled them out and looked at them: Tylenol, Advil, and Ibuprofen.
"Do you have a headache or something?" Mariana questioned.
"Uh-Yeah, I have a splitting headache a-and pain in my back…" Manny said quickly. Mariana narrowed her eyes.
"You've been taking these all day, haven't you? Not because you're in pain, but so they could numb you!" Mariana screamed, she stood up and hurled the bottles at the door. "Do you see what you're doing to me? I'm too young to deal with this! I can't deal with this…with you!" Mariana's face was burning red and she was now shrieking directly into her mom's face. Manny had her head turned in the opposite direction, she knew she had failed her daughter.
"Why can't you just stop!?" Mariana roared. She stomped over to the door, swung it open, and slammed it shut. Manny heard her pound down the stairs and then stop.
"SEE THAT? YOU'RE DOOR IS FIXED!"
xxx
A picture slid down the wall and broke, a vase smashed onto the floor and the coat rack slammed violently onto the ground. Kelly stood watching as her father smacked her mother around because she asked to use the car.
"Jay, stop!" Alex screeched, pounding her fists against him. Jay just smiled and punched her back. The hit knocked the wind out of Alex and she doubled over.
"Dad!" Kelly screamed, charging to her dad. She wrapped her arms around him, hoping this 'hug' would stop his rampage. "Dad, please stop. She just wants to get some milk from the store." Jay pushed his daughter off of him.
"No she doesn't! She wants to leave me! I'm not going to lose my family again!" Jay said, his voice cracking a little. He wheeled around and went into the bedroom, slamming it violently. Kelly crawled over to where her mother was coughing and rolling on the ground.
"Mommy, are you okay?" Kelly whispered, rubbing her mother's back. Alex nodded and stood up.
"Don't worry, he'll be gone soon." Alex whispered.
"How? When? I can't do much more of this, Mom! I can't watch you get pummelled anymore!" Kelly said.
"It doesn't matter what he does to me, as long as you're okay…then it's alright." Alex said, putting on a fake smile. She wheeled around and went into the living room to take a nap before Jay came back out. Kelly whisper-screamed and slid down the wall, wrapping her arms around her knees and putting her head in between.
What could she do? Everyday seemed like it was getting worse and even more out of control. Before her life was perfect, nothing horrible ever seemed to happen to her. Her and her mother lived peacefully at home and at school, Kelly was like a queen. But then her angry dad arrived and thrust her life into a black void.
"I need to do something…" Kelly whispered to herself. An idea suddenly popped into her head, it was a dangerous idea, but everyone's done it…right? Pulling herself up from the ground, she proceeded to kitchen, smoothing out her chocolate tresses as she went. Making sure her father was still in the room and her mother still on the couch, Kelly opened the silverware drawer and grabbed a small knife.
Secretly, Kelly tiptoed to the bathroom and locked the door. Sighing, she took a seat on the toilet seat and slid up her sleeves. Her arms were pale and smooth, like the first snow of the year. Summoning up all of her courage, Kelly grabbed the knife and slid it down her wrist.
"Down the street, not across." Kelly said to herself, remembering the rule to cutting. Her eyes widened as she saw the blood trickle down her arm. The scarlet contrasting the white. Five minutes later, she had cut herself three times on each arm.
Looking at the blood flowing down her arm, a smile spread across her face. Just like the movie she had learned this from said…she would feel a release. It was right, she felt free as if the stress and fear had just evaporated.
Maybe this was the best hobby she ever picked up.
xxx
Mariana lay on her bed, wrapped in blankets as if she were a caterpillar in a chrysalis. Her TV was turned on a station where they were playing nothing but those old clay Christmas movies. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer went on commercial and the TV screamed:
"ONE WEEK UNTIL CHRISTMAS!"
Mariana smiled at the TV until a commercial for depression came on. She grabbed the remote and turned it off. Ever since she discovered those pills in her mother's room a few hours earlier, Mariana had been furious, scared, sad and every other emotion under the sun.
She grabbed her pillow and put it over her head and screamed. Not even that classic method could release all the pain she was feeling. Sighing, Mariana pulled herself out of bed and sulked downstairs to the kitchen. A bag of Doritos sat on the counter and Mariana practically pounced on it.
She tried to open the bag but couldn't. Opening potato chip bags had always been hard for her, so she went and got a pair of scissors. Mariana began to cut open the bag evenly until she cut to quickly and scissors cut her arm that was holding the bag.
"Ow!" She squealed dropping the scissors and the bag. Suddenly she stopped and looked at her arm, a small cut had been made. No, she thought, I can't…but…
She placed the chips back on the counter and the scissors next to them. Mariana went for the knife rack and got a small knife and entered her bathroom. Locking the door behind her, she sat on the edge of her bed and rolled up her sleeves.
Closing her eyes, she cut down her arm. Wincing in pain she stopped for a moment. She opened her eyes and watched as the blood spilled from the cut. She didn't even want to clean it up, she wanted to watch it pour, as if all the stress and anger was streaming out of her.
Tears flowed from her eyes as she continued making lacerations on her arm. Luckily she and Kelly had seen a movie a while back about a cutter, it definitely gave them some good info. She heaved a sigh and cleaned off her arms and her knife, and as if on cue, when she stepped out of the bathroom the phone rang.
Mariana skipped to the phone in main hallway and picked it up, "Hello?"
"Hey!" It was Kelly.
"What're you up to?"
"Nothing much, 'Mari. Just bored out of my mind. Nothing ever happens here."
"Same here, my mom just sleeps."
"So how is she?" Kelly questioned.
"Fine…better, I guess. She had a little help." Mariana responded, trailing off at the end of her sentence. "Any Daddy news?"
It took a moment for Kelly to answer, "Nope, nothing new. Still missing from my life." The two said nothing for a while, basking in the silence.
"Oh! Kelly, remember that movie about that cutter girl?" Mariana squealed.
"Yeah, that movie was great. The critics said it helped a lot of cutters." Kelly said softly.
"Hmm…sure did. Well, I was thinking, maybe I could rent it and you can come over tomorrow night?" Mariana asked hopefully.
"Definitely."
"Definitely."
And with that, the two friends hung up.
Note: I showed this episode to my cousin when I was done and she was like, "Why didn't they tell each other about the cutting on the phone?" And the answer is, because I know some of my reviewers might've asked, is because it makes a better story! I hope you enjoyed it!
Nine more episodes of the first season!