Daddy's Little Girl

I barely slept that night, and when I did, I had nightmares, nightmares about all kinds of different things. I've always had really bad dreams, always when I'm really stressed, so Dad wasn't completely lying when he told Jimmy that I slept with him because I had nightmares about mom and Dad divorcing.

I woke up the next morning to Jimmy tackling me and then carrying me out of the room and upstairs to the dining room table. He sat me down next to Dad, who was at the end of the table, with her beside him, across from me. Beside me was Jimmy.

Someone sat a plate of food down in front of me, and I mumbled a thank you, trying my best to keep my head down. I could feel Dad's eyes on me, and It was extremely difficult to contain the anger I currently had for him.

After about 5 minutes of sitting there not really eating, and listening to Dad and Val laughing and carrying on, I leaned over and whispered to Jimmy that I wasn't feeling well. With that I abruptly stood up and walked out of the room, with several pairs of eyes staring at my back as I walked away.

"Something wrong?" I heard Val ask.

"She said she wasn't feeling well.." I heard Jimmy inform her.

"Oh.."

I kinda felt bad, she sounded seriously concerned, and I hadn't even spoken to her, but hey, I mean, I didn't speak to anyone. Other than Jimmy that is.

I knew Dad would be looking for me, so I knew that going back to my room was a bad idea. That was the first place he would look, so I need another place to hide. Somewhere that he wouldn't think to look. But where?

I pondered this for approximately 2 seconds before I decided the best place to hide, would be in the attic. I was already in the basement, which means I needed to be fast in getting back upstairs, and to the second floor before he came to find me. I raced back upstairs, and continued on up to the second floor, and all the way to the storage closet that had the hatch to the attic. I carefully closed the closet door, and climbed up onto a shelf so I could reach the hatch, I pulled the ladder down, and climbed up to the top, and bent down to pull the steps up.

It was cold and dusty, and I couldn't remember where the light switch was, so I went around the walls trying to find it. After going around twice, and tripping over everything, I remembered there was a pull string that turned the light on. I turned on the light, and was surprised at all the stuff that cluttered the place. I decided while I was up here, I was going to go through the boxes, ya know, just to keep myself busy.

♥♥♥


I woke up a couple hours later when I heard my name being called. I raised up and looked around the room, it took me a few minutes to figure out where I was.

The attic.

I sat up and stretched, and placed the old blanket and pillow back in one of the boxes. My stomach grumbled, and I decided it was time to go and eat.

Since whoever was yelling for me, has stopped, it is safe to say that my hiding place is still good. Next time I come up here I'm going to have to bring stuff to do... I opened the trap door and climbed down the steps, and decided to just leave the stairs down.

I walked out into the hallway and quietly closed the door, not wanting to compromise my hiding spot. I made my way to the stairs at the end of the hallway, hearing voices coming from Dad's room. I did not want to know what was being said, or who was saying it, but at the same time I did. Even though it was most likely Dad and Val talking.

I walked by Dad's room, deciding it was best not to eavesdrop, and began down the stairs. Right before I reached the bottom I heard Dad's door open.

"I don't know where she could be, I've literally looked everywhere. She's not in this house."

"Matt, she couldn't have gone far. It's freezing outside, and you said it yourself, her shoes and coat are still here." Val countered.

"I know, I'm just worried about her.."

"She's gotta be around here somewhere, are you sure you checked everywhere?"

"Yeah, I'm su- well no. Wait, the attic, I forgot the attic."

I heard their footsteps head towards the attic, and figured it was best that I just go on to get something to eat. I had been standing at the foot of the stairs listening to them, they had been standing in the hallway outside of Dad's room. If I had been any later, they would have found me for sure. My position would have been compromised, and I would then have to find a different place to hide. Dad would have either found me in the attic, or he would have seen me leaving the attic.

That was close.

I turned around to head towards the kitchen when I heard Dad tell Val that I wasn't up there, and came face to face with none other than Brian.

"Where the fuck have you been?!" He whispered harshly, grabbing my wrist and hauling me to the bathroom.

He looked around to make sure no one seen us, and then shoved me into the bathroom, stepping in behind me, locking the door.

"Where have you been?" he asked, calmer.

"I can't tell you."

"Keira," he warned.

"I don't want to tell you, you'll tell Dad where I was hiding."

"No I wont."

"Yes you will."

"Keira, I promise. We've been looking everywhere for you, I just want to know where you were. Or else it'll bug the hell out of me."

I let out a long sigh, and ran my hand down my face.

"The attic."

"There's an attic?"

"Yeah, it's above the upstairs storage closet."

"You've been up there all day?"

"Yeah."

"Because..?"

"I don't want to be around Dad. I'm not exactly pleased with him at the moment."

He sat down on the bathtub, and I sat down on the sink, getting the hint that this conversation was no where near over.

"And why not?" He asked.

"He just did something that I thought he would never do.."

"Like?"

"I don't really want to talk about it, Bri."

"Come on, you can tell me anything," he mused.

"I know, I just don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"It can't be that bad, can it?"

"Brian, he lied to me and let me down. That's all I'm going to say, so please, just drop it. I'm starving, and I'm going to get something to eat."

I stood up and began to walk out the door when Brian grabbed me, pulled me into his lap, hugged me from behind, and kissed my shoulder, before letting me go.

I walked out of the room, and began my quest to find something to satisfy the grumpy monster in my belly. I settled for some chocolate poptarts, and a glass of milk. I sat down at the dining room table, and opened the silver package, pulling out one of the pop tarts, breaking it in half, and dipping it in the milk. Just as I was taking my first bite I heard Dad stomp into the kitchen, slinging the refrigerator door open and pulling out a bottle of Jack Daniels. He took the cap off, and placed the bottle to his lips tilting his head back. As he took the bottle from his mouth, as luck would have it, he looked to his right, right at me. He just stared, I finally looked away and decided to continue ignoring him. He placed the bottle back in the fridge, and walked toward me, flipping on the dining room light in the process.

He sat down beside me and took a deep breath.

"Keira, listen, I didn't mean to hurt yo-"

"Save it." I said, standing up, sliding my poptarts in front of him, and headed out of the room.

And off to the Attic I go.

Notes