The 'Dad'

Mia's dad is not one of perfect sense. His mission in life is for him to be happy, not for Mia to be.

Apart from getting yelled at the day runs pretty smooth, I keep Lucy by my side and by the end of the day she’s talking quite a bit. The last bell of the day goes and everyone runs out of their classrooms, thankful that the long day is over finally. Lucy admits that she’s got to go home but I don’t let her, so we end up walking along the side of the road. “Stop hugging that book against yourself you look like some lost nerd” I say trying to keep my voice casual. Lucy doesn’t reply but she stops to put the book in her bag then hurries to catch up with me. I drag her into some alleyway which curves at the end so we and the road are not visible. I immediately push Lucy against the wall with a hand on each shoulder. “What’s with you then” I snarl, staring directly into her eyes. I hear a gulp as she opens her mouth, but no words come out. “Why are you being nice to me, did one if the girls set you up? Are you some type of cruel spy then? Huh?” I say, then releasing the grip on her shoulders as I see a face of fear. “I thought you were nice, good to hang out with” Says Lucy after a few minutes. “Ok then” I reply as I storm off down the alleyway and across the street towards my home. I’m stupid. How could I have thought that about some helpless chick which tried to be my friend. Friend, such a weird word to say for me. I’ve never had that someone to cling to, that real person to call friend. Should I go back? Will it be right to chase after her saying it was a huge mistake? No.  She can rot in hell for all I care. I need no shoulder to cry on, I’m the bully of year 10 for Christ’s sake. Storming into my house my step-mum Julie has immediate eyes on me. “Why you in such a rush?” She says gently, like she’s trying to lighten the mood. “No reason” I reply and rush up to my room, slamming the door hard behind me purposefully so she knows just to stay away.

Julie’s nice, well she tries to be. She always keeps this gentle tone of voice even when mad. But the reason I hate her is because she’s always on dads side, never one not even when I’m right does she scoot over to my side of an argument. It’s unfair, especially with him always having to yell at me for something. Even if it’s as small as leaving a door open. Most the time it’s nothing big, nothing that I said give a damn about. But then again recently it’s been getting worse, the anger, the rage, the hatred have gone to an extreme. Right at that moment a small figure opens my door, and comes waddling across my room like it owns the place. “Shove off lily, you ain’t aloud in here alright” I say shoving her in the chest. She’s only 4 but is the most annoying kid I’ve ever seen. “But Mimi I got to show this picture to you it’s good, really really really good” She says holding out this picture that’s he drew. I take it and hold it up to my eyes for a split-second and hand it back to her. “Cool” I say “Now piss off before I get you out myself” She grabs the picture and runs out, leaving my door wide open. “And close the door next time you little prick” I yell after her, then slamming the door in rage. It’s forbidden for anyone to ever come into my room, not because it’s private. Because it’s my only place of quiet. My only place that I can call my own. It’s a fairly small room, with light purple walls and pitch black curtains which block out any unwanted light. Each wall is blank, no posters pictures or even decorations. I have a desk at one wall, with a single old wooden chair and a laptop which mainly stays closed. Then my bed at the opposite wall, a small single bed with plain black duvet and pillows. My chest of drawers which contains my clothes sits plainly underneath the window which is at the far end. My small box room is just enough, a place of peace and quiet. A place of my own. I grab some old books from under my bed; they consist of old magazines and books from when I was younger. Perfect. I tip all the school books out my bag and place the old books in instead and run down the stairs. I hear Julie crying in the kitchen as I walk by, as usual. Flinging the bag onto my back I walk outside, towards the empty house across the road. It’s a small bungalow which has been for sale for almost two years now. It’s white with this slated grey roof, and is surrounded by this small spiked wooden fence, which is no match for me. Climbing over I head down the thin alley at the side of the house which leads to the back garden, and that’s where I pour all the books and magazines out. It’s a usual thing for me, alighting these books, and somehow no one ever suspects a thing. It’s usually windy where I live and the fence round back is higher, so no one can see the person or the smoke by the time it’s been blown away. I pile the books up in a circle type manner and set them on fire with my lighter. They spur small blue and green flames, like burning a newspaper. I alight a cigarette as I watch them burn. The flames seem to cheer me up, like the pain of someone annoying or hurtful. They burn for almost half an hour till the flames start to die down. I think back to when I was little, to when my mum was here. She used to read me one of those books every night, in that sweet calm voice. She used to make these little puppets and make them move with the story; sometimes they would fight or even sing. As a child they would make me laugh, but now the books and the spirit can go burn in hell, along so with my mum.

I spit on the books as I leave and decide to walk round town, it’s much better than lounging off at home. I walk for hours, without a single care in the world. The large clock tower rings at one a.m. just as I walk through the door. “Where the hell have you been?” My dad screams almost in my ear “We’ve been worried sick and nearly called the police so what do you have to say for yourself”

“Oh like hell you care” I yell back

“Julie was worried sick you mustn’t run off like that you selfish child”

“And where was your caring huh dad”

“Like I give one about you, you’re not my problem Mia and you know that so get to your room before I have to smack you”

“Like you would dare”

Just at that moment a heavy hand hits the side of my face, making my head swing violently to the left so I’m left stumbling over almost hitting the wall. “To your room now!” He screams pulling my collar and shoving me hard towards the stairs. I run up them slamming the door behind me. What a b*****d I think to myself. Like he has the guts to smack me again. It’s a regular but hasn’t happened recently not after last time. When he last tried to slap me I retaliated, shoving him so hard that his head smacked hard on the dining table. He didn’t wake up for 2weeks afterwards, the best fortnight of my life. He came back as angry as ever, but still is no real challenge. I put my music on full blast and feel the side of the face he hit. It’s warm, and stings as my hand rests against it. I decide to curl up in bed and try to get some sleep, leaving the music on. My cheek screams in pain as I rest my head, so I try to ignore it. My eyes droop and I fall asleep just as someone starts knocking on my door.

“Get up” I hear lily say as she starts to jump hard on my bed. I groan as it seems like I fell asleep just two minutes ago “Mummy said you’ve got to take me to school”

“Oh shove off you little twat” I reply

“But Mimi I got reading lesson today and mummy said I’m a great reader”

I slope out of bed and she scurries out the room. No smoke for me today then. Gathering all my stuff I leave the house without her, but she comes running along anyway. She’s only in reception but she’s loving school already. She always talks about all her friends and that damned teacher Miss Mist which is supposedly the sweetest teacher ever. But I still have no idea how the kids can pronounce her name, especially the ones with lisps. I plan to drop her off at the gate but she drags me in, and in no time I’m surrounded by 20-30 kids in the class room, with a few mums also. I try to pull away but lily keeps a hold of my hand, with no intention of letting go. Finally Miss Mist enters and the kids suddenly all sit down cross legged on the floor chanting “Good morning Miss Mist”. It’s more like a prison then a school, like they’re all brainwashed to do the same thing every morning. I finally get to escape after 10 more minutes of Miss Mist asking me hundreds of questions. “Lilyanna is a good kid you’re lucky to be her sister” She says as I leave the room. “Half-sister” I call back to her. I walk the opposite direction of school, it has P.E. on a Tuesday and I can’t stand getting dressed with 16 girls chatting about bras and how amazing their boyfriend is. Love sickens me; I don’t see how someone can put so much trust in someone else. Half the girls in my class have boyfriends, I hope their happy for a life of regret. As I’m walking along I stumble across Lucy once again, who as well seems to be skipping school. She’s sitting on the curb, watching the cars go by. “Hey” she calls at me “Hi” I reply and sit next to her “Look about yesterday-“

“It’s fine” She says cutting me off “So we’re friends right?”

“Right” I return “So why you off school?” She looks at me and shrugs. I look in to her eyes and immediately see that something must be wrong.

Author's Note

No the best thing I've ever written, could be better in my opinion. Run out of ideas in this chapter as the domestic part seemed to fly right by.