Tension · 5:31pm Aug 31st, 2016
I had a weird, realistic dream last night and made it into a [non-pony] story.
Tell me what you think! :D
"We just don't feel welcome here." Dad says to the two city councilmen sitting across from us. "I don't know why we're still here, we might as well move now." Thomas and I exchanged a look, having heard this same speech countless time before. We shifted in our seats to a more comfortable position and waited for dad to finish his rant.
"Why's that?" One of the councilmen asked, leaning forward on the plush red couch with interest. His partner copied his actions.
Dad sighed, holding his head in his hand. "We don't get invited out to anything anymore." He explained, "I hear about these dances and city freebees that the neighbors get all the time. Heck, I even see the single moms get more support than I ever could!" In the background, the birds started squawking up a storm. Thomas got up to quiet them down. "I asked my neighbors and the city support team if they could help watch over Thomas and Kasey while I was off at work, since I was going through a divorce!"
The two men nodded and it kind of felt like watching a private therapy appointment. I scrunched my nose and wiggled in the chair again, suddenly uncomfortable and wishing I could leave. The two councilmen have been checking in on us for quite some time and I was starting to like them. Unfortunately, dad opened up this can of worms on all of us very slyly and there was nothing we could do to stop it now. Thomas returned and settled back down in his chair.
"Well, it's about eight o' clock, so maybe we should start to wrap this up." He suggested nonchalantly, hoping it would pass under dad's radar. There was a pause and I looked in their direction. Dad was giving Thomas a look, making Thomas slightly uncomfortable. He shrugged his shoulders and lowered his head, as if to say I don't know, nevermind, I guess. I offered him a quick, weak smile. It was worth a shot.
The councilmen waited for dad to continue, but once they realized he was finished for the time being, they turned their attention to Thomas and I. "Well, we'd love to have you three back in the swing of things," the man on the right said with a smile, "but, you two, if we…arranged for someone to pick you up to come to some community get-together, would you come?"
I leaned forward, stretching out my arms. Before I could say 'yes' or 'sounds great', I see dad out of the corner of my eye. He seems pretty upset. I lean back and lower my gaze, sighing inwardly.
"You guys are over-stepping your boundaries." Dad growls.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. G." The right man responds.
"No, you're not." Dad says with irritation.
Great, I think, He's in one of those moods again.
"You're over-stepping your boundaries," dad continues, "don't ask them, I'm the authority in this house!" The birds start to squawk again, but this time, Thomas didn't get up to stop them. "I think you should leave."
The councilmen look at him with a mix of shock and confusion. "Uh..alright." The man on the left says, gathering his book and book bag. "I guess we'll get going then.." He was purposely going slow, I realized, in hopes dad would calm down and take it back. I felt heat rise to my face and lowered my head in vain attempts to keep the tears down.
"Here, I'll open the door for you to make it faster." Dad says with mock sincerity. He gets up and walks briskly towards the front door. I spring up and run to the bathroom to try and calm down. Thomas gets up with me, and in the background, I hear the door open and dad's voice drift throughout the house. "No, don't shake his hand!" He says, then the door closes. Thankfully, it wasn't slammed.
Tears are still rushing out of my eyes and I'm grabbing tissues by the handful to try and wipe them away. My face is in the towel to muffle my sobs. I hear a pause then dad's voice. I figure Thomas might have said something and now dad was ranting onto Thomas. My tears stop and I glance in the mirror to try and see if it looks like I've been crying.
My nose is a little red and my eyes are, too, but other than that, it wasn't super obvious. I go to open the door but then remember that I went in the bathroom in an attempt to fool dad I had to use the restroom. In a waste, I flush the toilet and wash my hands, though it wasn't completely necessary. I exit the room and go into the kitchen where dad and Thomas are.
"What about Kasey?!" Dad is saying, "I see her come home with bruises and scratches from the school girls for just wearing green pants with a pink top!" Thomas bites his lip and I know he's debating on saying something. I touched the scar on my right cheek, where I had to get stitches from being cut so deep. It stings a little when my finger makes contact, but I don't care. I lower my hand and stand next to my brother. He looks down at me and walk towards the kitchen island.
"Yeah, but--" Thomas starts. dad puts up a hand to stop him and looks at me.
"Why were you screaming in the bathroom?" He asks. I look off to the side, inwardly cursing myself for not being as discreet as I had hoped to be.
"What do you mean?" I ask in a small voice. My brain, meanwhile, was trying to think of a convenient lie, for if he knew the true reason, he'd probably have another cow on top of the one he was having.
"I heard screams coming from the bathroom." Dad tells me in a no-nonsense attitude. "Were you crying? Why were you crying?"
I bite my lip, hoping the lie I have works. "I… I was scared, cause you got angry… and you kind of… scared me."
"I was only angry because they over-stepped their boundaries!" He yells. I wince inwardly, but am happy the lie works. Truthfully, I was upset that he scared off the council men and they probably wouldn't come back again. "I mean, who do they think they are?" He continues angrily. "I just got done telling them how I we don't feel included, and they go and exclude me!" The birds stop their squawking and look at dad tentatively.
"Well--" Thomas tries again.
"Well what?" Dad snaps.
"Maybe you could try and go out and meet some people. The way I see it, you need to work your way to the top to be known and--"
Dad huffs and places his hand on his hip. "Now you're just being mean, Tommy."
"Oh. Sorry." Thomas shrugs. He doesn't look sorry.
"I've lived in this city for twenty years, have gone out to meet and greats and community get-togethers, and ask for just a little support to help with you guys. And what do I get? Nothing. And your just telling me to go out and do it all again?"
The tension in the air grew thicker. Thomas's face grew red and I felt and uncomfortable pressure on my chest. "I'm sorry, I-"
Dad shook his head angrily and grabbed his car keys. "I'm going to go to the store," he said between clenched teeth, "we need milk."
Thomas shrugs again and walks back towards the living room. I can tell both have more on their mind they're dying to say, but neither feel the other would listen--or care.
I grab one of my bake sale posters for the school Fundraiser and scuttle after dad. Hopefully, I'd be able to calm him down by the time we got back home.
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That's only the first part; it was a long dream.
No real names are used.
So.....
Whatdya think~?
4183826 Yeah, th dream was reeking of tension.
Was it good, tho?
4183920
I liked it.
ahhh,,, yeah, this wasn't a dream. This was a meeting w/ missionaries and dad just blew up on them for no reason. i still miss them, they were actually good missionaries.
things that were made up;
the 'beatings' kasey (me) got. it was more like they excluded me from everything but i felt that wasn't a good enough thing to be mad about
the scar on kasey's cheek.