It Fails Me Again (519 hits)
Category: UberMadness! EntryRating: 2 on 2 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Malificent (View user info) at 2004-09-23 17:19:19 EDT
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Trembling slighty, Jenny rubbed her eyes and poked her stepfather's sleeping form.
"Daddy?" she mumbled. She knew he wasn't her real daddy, but she had never known her biological father, and this man had been around in one way or another since she was born. She knew her mother loved him enough to have a baby with him, and even though she was only seven she understood that people didn't have babies together unless they loved each other.
She poked him again lightly. "Daddy?" she whispered as he stirred and moaned. "I had a bad dream." Her voice cracked slightly. "I miss Mum and I'm scared. Can I sleep with you tonight?"
There was a small pause. Mum was working tonight; she worked three nights a week as a nurse and was always tired. Jenny knew her Daddy liked to be left alone while he slept but her bedroom was dark and scary and her imagination had been playing tricks on her again. The soft glow of the nightlight in the hallway had only served to create creepy shadows which seemed to move in the corner of Jenny's eye. She had tried her best to be brave, just like her Mum had told her to ("Big girls aren't scared of monsters, darling... you want to be a big girl don't you?"). But her courage had left her again and she had crept, shaking, with a sob in the back of her throat, into her parents' bedroom.
Her Daddy stirred again. "You can sleep here," he said, "but you know what I want in return."
Jenny knew. Something inside her cringed when he mentioned it, but she was so scared of being by herself that it was worth the discomfort for her. She nodded and climbed into bed beside him.
"Remember," Daddy said, "you're not to tell your mother about this. It's our secret, okay? If she knew she wouldn't let me look after you when you get scared, and you'd have to sleep all by yourself in the dark."
Jenny knew that she didn't want that, so she nodded and felt him slide her underwear down. His hand was rough and scratchy, as always, but she screwed her eyes shut tight, letting her mind drift away into her favourite day-dream, and soon she didn't feel it as much any more.
At least she knew she was safe from the monsters this way.
Several minutes later he pulled his hand back and went to sleep. Jenny lay awake staring at the ceiling for a long time. She didn't have school the next day so she knew she could sleep in late if she needed to; she would just get up when she heard her Mum come home, sneak back into her own bed and sleep for a while longer. Her mind wandered again as she imagined she was a brave and beautiful superhero, flying through the sky and casting magic spells to help people, until all the world was peaceful and there were no evil people or monsters to make people scared any more.
She was drifting into a light slumber when she felt Daddy moving next to her. Suddenly he rolled over and was right on top of her! She was scared a bit and Daddy was a heavy man, but she managed to pull her knees right up so that her legs separated them and she could get some breathing room. The sudden jerk of her movement made Daddy get off her, and even though Jenny suspected that he was moving in his sleep she sat bolt upright and climbed past him to get out of the door.
Daddy's hand shot out and grabbed her arm very roughly and Jenny cried out as he plunged his hand into her underwear again even as she struggled to get away.
"Ow! Owwch, DADDY, NO!" she yelled, loud enough to startle him (awake?). He let go and she ran into her bedroom, shaking and crying a little but mostly her heart was racing and she was breathing heavily from the struggle. She had hidden a key to her bedroom in her jewellery box the last time this had happened, and she dug it out and locked herself in. She backed slowly away from the door. The door handle was tried only once this time before Daddy gave up and went back to his bedroom.
Jenny dared not move for a moment, staring unblinking at the door as her mind tried to grasp what had happened. A voice inside her head tried to tell her something...part of her tried to grasp the *wrongness* of the situation before her childish fear suppressed it and she turned away from the door. She crept over to the crib in the corner of her bedroom as her baby sister stirred and let out a small cry. Jenny stroked baby Emma's head gently. Gazing at the tiny sleeping bundle, Jenny set her jaw and vowed never to leave her little sister alone with the shadows again. She wouldn't let her nerve fail her any more.
"Shh," she whispered. "There are no monsters tonight."
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Submitted by Charred (user info) at 2005-03-31 17:31:36 EST (#)
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Submitted by youarsoghey (user info) at 2005-01-16 12:18:41 EST (#)
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