From the Top of the Stairs (complete) (512 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1 on 5 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Sarah Prejean <derivablezero.at.gmail.com> (View user info) at 2005-04-24 22:11:43 EDT
(so I fucked up and submitted only half of it earlier. sorry)
He painted lines. Straight lines. He could not speak. He only made gurgle noises from deep inside his throat. Sometimes, Nurse Wilma would ask him what he was painting. He would frown and sob at her, and sometimes get the brown paint on her uniform. Then, he'd keep on painting. Across. Down. Across... and when the page was full, he stopped.
Once a month, Caroline came to visit. She would sit across from him and ask "Eddie, why don't you paint something nice for me. Paint some dolphins." And Eddie would coo at her, even though they both knew he could not paint dolphins.
People often wondered what Eddie would say if he could speak. James, the large black orderly, talked to him every day. All he wanted was one word, but Eddie would not give it up. Eddie always stared right into James' eyes, and that was okay. James made Eddie smile, and Eddie reminded James of the privilege to speak. Each time that James' eyebrows moved up, or his smile got wider, Eddie screamed with delight. He wanted to talk. He wanted to tell James everything that he painted--everything he had seen and heard, everything about Caroline and the family and everyone; but even if he could, he would not.
***
Every morning, Eddie watched Mamma braid Caroline's hair he crouched at the top of the stairs, and Mamma gave Caroline and Rodney their lunches and walked them out the door. Caroline and Rodney were going to school. Eddie did not know what school was, but it only happened on weekdays; Caroline and Rodney always came home at the same time Daddy did, but the time in between was best spent watching Mamma.
At nine each morning, Mamma turned on the television in the kitchen to watch what she called "stories." They were not as much fun as Eddie's stories. Mamma read them to him every night, just after his bath. His favorite story was about a tree and a boy. Eddie could not climb trees. The boy in the story could talk, too. He talked to the tree.
When Mamma bathed Eddie at night, she would always rub his hair with soap that smelled like eggs. She said it was for the flakes on his head but even though she called them flakes Mamma always fussed when he tried to eat them. And then, she would smile. She rubbed his neck, always, and said "One day, you will open your mouth Eddie. Then the wisdom of the world will come out."
After his bath, Caroline always came home. She was so pretty. Her yellow hair had tiny sparkles in it, like God had poured glitter on her head. Eddie knew that if God was going to give anyone glitter, it would be Caroline. Her eyes were nice eyes. Eddie liked to imagine miniature smiling faces in the black parts. Caroline's friend Theo came home with her sometimes. He never came inside, but Eddie could see them outside. Theo always kissed her, and daddy always watched from the window.
***
One night, Daddy was at the window waiting for Rodney to come home from a party. When Rodney got home, he was acting silly and could not walk straight. Rodney stumbled into Daddy and Eddie saw Daddy throw him on the floor. Rodney got sick then, and Eddie held his breath to keep quiet. Mamma was sleeping and Eddie knew not to wake her up. Daddy started to hit Rodney on his head, and Rodney was crying. His face was in the throw up and Eddie felt his own stomach flipping. All of a sudden, Daddy picked Rodney up. Eddie closed his eyes when they walked past him. He did not open them until he saw Mamma cleaning the carpet, and Daddy fussing about Rodney's problem.
Caroline did not have any problems. She was smart, and pretty, and had friends with nice eyes, too. Even Theo's eyes were nice, but Daddy did not like him. One night after Eddie's bath, he waited again for Caroline to come home. She was later than usual and Daddy was walking back and forth in front of the window. Eddie could not see outside because Daddy was moving too much. All of a sudden, Daddy punched the countertop harder than he ever punched Rodney, and then he ran out the door. With Daddy out of the way, Eddie could see Caroline. She was pressed against the big tree in the front yard, and Theo looked like he was biting her neck. Theo's hand was under the bottom of her skirt. Eddie wondered what Theo was looking for. Whatever he was looking for, Daddy was not happy about it.
Daddy pulled Theo away from Caroline, and took hold of Caroline's arm. He pulled Caroline into the house and she looked angry. Theo ran away. Daddy started yelling at Caroline and she started to cry.
"You are a tramp, Caroline! Do you know that?!"
Caroline started sobbing and Daddy hit her. Eddie held his breath again. Daddy pushed Caroline on the floor and ripped the bottom of her dress. He put his hand over Caroline's mouth and grabbed a handful of her pretty yellow hair. Eddie began to rock back and forth with his fingers in his mouth, desperately trying to breath and keep quiet at the same time. Eddie watched Caroline bite daddy's hand; then he watched Daddy punch Caroline in the stomach.
***
"That's a good girl," Eddie heard Daddy say, as he put his hand where Theo's just was. Daddy dropped his pants and laid on top of Caroline. She closed her eyes and let her head fall backwards. Her face squinted up at the same time Daddy made a loud grunt. Eddie knew Daddy was hurting her. Caroline's eyes opened and she saw Eddie, bundled and scared one story above her. She whispered, "Eddie, no."
Then Eddie screamed. Daddy jumped off of Caroline and she started to cry more. Daddy jumped over the coffee table and started up the stairs while Caroline yelled from the floor "Don't hurt him! He doesn't know!"
Daddy moved closer and faster until he was charging upwards to silence Eddie. Eddie stopped screaming when he heard footsteps running from the other direction, and notice that his pants were wet. He saw Mamma run down the hall, moving toward him. He moved his head back and forth, looking from Mamma to Daddy until they stopped on either side of him. Eddie looked downstairs and saw Caroline curled into a ball on the floor. He started crying. Outside his head, he heard Mamma scream at Daddy "You won't hurt another of my children ever again!" As quickly as Eddie could blink, Daddy was rolling down the stairs.
***
After that, there were no more stains on the carpet. Daddy never came home and Mamma said that it was okay, because at least he could not hurt anyone anymore. Caroline's eyes never smiled again. When Eddie looked at her, he thought of the glass Mamma broke on Daddy. Caroline's eyes looked like broken glass.
That was okay, though. Eddie could still smile for her, and she would smile, too. He never told anyone, and wouldn't if he could. He just kept on loving her, and painting his view from the top of the stairs.
User Reviews
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-04-25 22:55:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-04-25 13:16:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
started out OK, then got WAY too formulaic - you can do better, I know it!
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2005-04-25 11:31:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I thought this was a really good piece of writing. People seem to have a particular fondness for incest and child abuse stories though, one cannot help but be slightly concerned.
Still, it's all good crack and all that.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-04-25 00:01:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Always a good idea to write your pieces in word or some other word processing program, then after careful editing, posting them.
Remember, drop some bass without the bass dropping out.
OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Submitted by professorfuckface (user info) at 2005-04-24 22:23:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
TOO BAD CUNT!