My Daddy

Free Write #2-

She thought of her family and took a moment to hesitate as she sat on the window ledge. As the brisk night air tickled her cheeks, she realized that staying wasn’t an option even worth considering. She leaned back into her room and heaved up her duffel bag. Li threw the heavy bag down to the ground wincing when she heard the consequences of her mother’s disappearance collide with the ground.

She whispered a goodbye of mixed emotions to the life she knew so well but hated so much, and lowered herself from the window sill. When her feet thudded against the ground, she grabbed the bag and hefted it onto her shoulder. Her body sagged from the weight and small droplets of sweat congregated above her brow. 

She walked ever so softly past her house and stepped out onto the pavement, careful not to disturb the contents of her bag. After seventeen of walking on egg shells through the house of horrors she called home, she could take any amount of steps with hardly a sound. She heard her drunken father shouting at her brother. Her overly sensitive ears could hear, even from outside, the sound of her father’s fist making contact with…was that a skull? She fought the impulse to go back for him. 

She wondered if her mother had felt this way. She wondered if she had thought about the affects her actions would have on her children, or if she’d just been too occupied with escaping to think about them. She wondered if she’d snuck out, the way Li was, or if she’d simply walked away one day. Left while her father was at the local bar, or walked to the corner store, her oversized purse unusually bulging, and just never come back. Li knew that her mother must have taken the easy way. There was no way that she could have left if there was a large possibility that she would be taken back and caged all over again. 

Unlike her mother, Li had a plan. She turned her back on her brother, convinced that they’d both be safe soon. Her eager legs and feet were leading her to a new life; one that she hoped would be better than the one she currently lived, and one that what was left of her family would be able to share in. However before she could get there she had to take an imperative step. A step she took by force, not want. 

Li’s feet hit the ground. The left one first, then the right. Back and forth they went as they did everyday but in a new direction. She looked around at the black and white cars congregating in the parking lot. She’d avoided this part of town her entire life and now it was her main destination. 

 She walked off of the sidewalk and let her foot fall onto the parking lot cement. The tall building loomed over her, begging Li to give up and go back the way she had come. Her stomach turned to Jell-0 and for a moment she entertained the thought that facing her father would be easier. Nerves trickled into her stomach, pooling and rising higher and higher, until finally threatening to flood her mind. Her once eager legs stiffened and nearly froze, but Li willed them to move forward. With trembling hands she grasped the large steel handle and pulled open the glass door.

The receptionist noticed the stench first. She blew forcefully through her nose, as if to push the smell away. Li smirked inside as the receptionist grinned at her. She came closer and the receptionist all but fainted.

“I don’t mean to be rude, Sweetheart, but…” she began. All polite, all perfect. Her blond curls tumbled from beneath her black cap. A golden shield was embroidered above the brim.

“It’s okay, Officer,” Li replied, “I know, I smell.” She bent over as the receptionist nodded her agreement. Li gently put the bag on the ground and, with shaky hands, slid the zipper down its tracks opening a slit. She sat back on her knees taking a deep breath. Instantly, she regretted I; the bag no longer contained the smell. She pushed her black hair behind her ears revealing battered Asian features punctuated with bruises that Li had long since stopped noticing. 

“Oh, Honey,” the receptionist said, leaning forward to frame Li’s face with her manicured hands. “Look at your face.” Her nails were red. Like blood, Li thought. Li ignored the policewoman’s frets and slid her hands into the slit she’d created and pushed them away from each other, pushing it back so that the receptionist could see into the bag. 

The gruesome scent bolted out, pushing them both back with its strength. The police woman’s breath caught in her lungs when she saw the little girl inside the bag. Even dead and bruised Li’s younger sister was beautiful. She was curled inside the bag, her long black curly hair cascaded behind her. If you squinted, you couldn’t see the finger sized bruises on her neck, or the fact that her arms were broken in many places; and then, she just appeared to be sleeping. The way a normal six year old would be.

Tears rimmed Li’s eyes, the sight of her sister hitting her fresh. She looked at the receptionist, and knew she’d been unfair. It was probably her first day on the job, and that’s why she’d been on desk duty. The blond policewoman’s eyes matched Li’s and her body shook with constricted sobs. 

“Who did this?” she demanded. Her voice shook with a thirst for revenge. 

“My daddy.”