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Breaking Old Chains
Short story, beginning and end.
It had begun eleven years ago, and it was ending this cold December night.
There was no snow on the ground; this was a desert. A place full of some of the worlds deadliest animals; many species that didn’t exist anywhere else in the world, but in this one state.
Saffy had lived in Arizona, a state full of poisons, her entire twenty-one years of life. Trapped like a prisoner to this deadly city, but it wasn’t the state that had chained her.
It was him.
Leroy had what most men only dream of; he had a beautiful wife and loving children. Rather than accept that, he slept around, cheating on his wife. He hardly ever saw his children, who grew to hate him.
One by one, he found a reason to abandon that family. Divorced the wife because he found many other women he preferred; thought the wife would beg and she didn’t… that was the truth, he didn’t want to let her go. His rash actions set her, and most of her children free… all because his littlest girl spoke up and got the right people on his case.
Leroy moved into his mother’s old house where he caused his son to fear and hate him, and due to allergies, the doctors cast off his chains.
Leroy sold his remaining child out to slavery and abuse. Her mother had deserved a better life, a better daughter… so she left the girl with Leroy, who quickly found that he had no patience for a child as weak as her. Leroy was still angered by her decision to break daddy’s rules and inform on him to the police… now that her mother had abandoned her; she had nowhere to run to.
In the house with white bricks and barred windows, he took out all his anger, rage, frustration and aggression on her.
All the things he had done, or that he’d had allowed to have been done to her, what he’d taken payment to let happen to her… all that had been here, at the house she now stood silently in front of.
It began here, so it would end here. She would confront him as she had wanted to for so long but had been so afraid too— afraid that all the pain would start again, even worse. She’d make him admit what he’d done, and tell him she was done with him and the agony he caused… Only then would it truly be over.
She wanted him to stop calling her and ordering her to come home when he was mad. She hated spending summers there while the campus she lived at was closed. She wanted to never again walk into class in 100 degree weather wearing long sleeves. She wanted her roommate to no longer have a reason to point out the bruises, cuts, welts, gashes on her. It was too hard to explain the hand shaped marks, the hospital visits, the medical records… when she was younger it was easier, people made fun of her—they stayed away. In college… her roommate wouldn’t let these things go unanswered, and wouldn’t buy the excuse that she just didn’t care about herself… She just wanted the nightmares to end.
Saffy moved quietly to the house, her footsteps not even leaving a mark on the filthy pavement. Opening the door, she felt the familiar zap from a metal doorknob that was in permanent contact with the cut wires from a doorbell she had never known to work.
Leroy looked up, when he saw her surprised. “Missy?” He stood up, casting a shadow over the thin girl standing there.
Saffy grit her teeth and held back her tears— determined not to let him make her cry again. That wasn’t her name, it was just what he called her ever since her mother left her there with him. “Hi, Daddy… I brought you food.” Saffy stated, walking over with the same silent grace she’d used to approach and enter the house of pain.
She held out the bag she’d brought as a way to keep her father busy eating rather than yelling, as well as a sort of peace offering. A reminder of why he left her alive.
Leroy grabbed the bag from her and took out the covered plate. He started eating the sandwich without another word, though he’d already went out and had dinner with friends while she stood there without even the offer of nourishment.
“What are you doing here?” Leroy asked between bites. “I didn’t tell you to, and you never come unless ordered.”
Saffy shrugged, “Just had to finish something. You know, you made my life hell. I’ve always wanted you to just… admit that.” She started out right away; before she could lose her nerve… this time would be much different.
“Missy, don’t start.” Leroy grumbled, “Judge let me slide and I paid a fortune to get that pass; I don’t need your shit now. It’s your fault anyway— yours and your mothers. I didn’t want this responsibility—you have no idea how much stress is involved in raising a kid.”
“You lied to people to get away with selling and abusing your daughter because you were stressed out.” Saffy elaborated, moving closer and being far bolder than she’d ever imagined she could be. Usually, she was a rather staid girl. “I can’t live like this anymore, I can’t.” She stalled his eating by moving over to the table and pushing his hand down. “You have to let me go…”
Leroy glared at her with annoyed eyes, “I don’t have to do a damn thing. You’re askin for trouble and you’re gonna get it.”
Saffy knew the threat in that, but she still held his hand and his eyes. “… It can’t be like this forever.”
“It’s gonna be; you’re mine. I can do whatever I want with ya.” Leroy insisted and pulled his hand away, continuing to eat.
“I’m nothing more than property to you? And that isn’t my name, you know that.”
Leroy sighed, taking another bite. His jaw began tingling, but he ignored it. It was becoming harder to chew, as if he were just too tired. “Shut up, Missy, you know what I told you.”
Saffy watched him finish the sandwich, walking behind him, before she put her hands on his shoulder. “I remember, Daddy. You told me a name was a description of what a person had to be… Missy is a basic description of a girl, not even a name, really. You said a name should reflect the person.”
Leroy suddenly lost all feeling in his jaw. It went numb, and then he just couldn’t move it. His throat was next, he lost the ability to swallow, then he couldn’t breathe at all and tried to stand, but was unable to. He couldn’t explain it, but he was paralyzed.
Saffy bent down until her mouth was parallel to his ear. “And my name… is Saffron.”
She left that house for good. As did her father… but she was the only one who used the door.
Saffy had been raised to obey her father. When he renamed her, she never forgot it and made it her mission to find out why it had been changed. That’s when she learned what a saffron was; a poisonous flower.
The night air was chilly, but there was no snow. This was Arizona, after all. Poisons ruled this place.
Nooo, this story isn't about me! I am appalled at the accusation! …
Well… maybe not appalled… :grin: maybe more like… consentient.
muahahaha
