Tainted Innocence

C H A P T E R 7

Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.- Oscar Wilde

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Leilani

I arrive home after an intense and silent car ride. My shaky hands fumble with the seatbelt to unbuckle it. Papá gets out of the car without a word and Matteo just gives me a stare full of pity but also disappointment.

I take a long gulp before entering the house, mamá is sitting down on the couch glaring down at her hands. "Sit." I hear papá say, so I sit because I don't want to make my situation even worse.

Papá spoke first, "Leilani. Where were you last night?!"

I didn't know how to answer his question so I just stayed silent. "Leilani answer your father!" I hear mamá plead but I still sit in silence.

Frustrated papá stands up, his tall figure towering over me before he pulls me up by my shirt.

"Answer me when I fucking speak to you! All that I've done for you- for this family! And you can't tell me where you were last night. Do you understand the dangers you put yourself in and how worried we all were for you? Stupida ragazza." Papá face was turning red with every word he spoke.

I was still stunned silent. Never had papá- or anyone had spoken to me like that. "I was out with a friend," I finally answered his question.

Papá scoffs, "What friend Leilani?! You don't have any fucking friends!"

"Zoé Smith."

Matteo's eyes widened as Papá hand tightened around my shirt before slapping me. My head slammed into the brick wall behind me and I fell.

"Ethan!" Mamá yelled shocked rushing over to me. Papá moved her out of the way as he continued to yell.

"No, she doesn't listen! I asked you specifically to not hang out with her! Do you want people to think you're a dyke too?! Because I can tell you right now I am not having that in my house." Papá yelled down at me. Never had he put his hands on me like that. I sat there shocked and silent before papá just scoffed and stomped away to his office.

Mamá and Matteo swarm me, checking my bruises and asking me questions but it's all muffled. I stand up shakily and walk up the stairs. I twist open the knob to open my door and gasp.

Everything in my room had been destroyed and trashed. I was too worn out and tired to clean it up so I just laid into the mess until I eventually fell asleep.

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I wake up to the sound of papá and mamá arguing and then heavy footsteps making their way up the stairs. I close my eyes and pretend that I am asleep as my door slams open judging by my body tensing, papá has entered my room.

He walks in and turns on the light, forcing me to open my eyes. "You really think you deserve to sleep in after what you did?" I shake my head.

Papá looked at me and recoiled "I can't even bear to look at you. You've disgraced this family, Leilani. Get up and get dressed, we're going to church," and with that papá exited the room but his intensity still lingered.

I get out of bed and open my closet. I pick out a light pink dress and walk into my bathroom to make myself look presentable.

I walk to my full-length mirror to take in my put-together outfit, despite how I feel on the inside. Lastly, I sprayed my Miss. Dior perfume and walked downstairs, my pink heels clinking with each step.

☆

The drive to church was tense which wasn't that surprising considering what happened last night.

Papá is the first one to walk into the church, turning on all the lights. We usually get to church before everyone because my father has to set up everything before he preaches. Mamá usually just makes sandwiches for the church members and I help, but this time Matteo is helping her, and I'm being cast aside. Always being cast aside.

I hear the door to the church open and finally, someone who isn't related to me walks in and relieves a little bit of the tension. Gradually more people enter and soon the whole church is packed with people until I finally see her, Zoé.

Beside Zoé is a woman who almost looks identical to her, just a bit older with smile wrinkles on the side of her eyes and grey hair mixing with the firey red. That must be Mrs.Smith.

I go to wave at Zoé before I feel a sharp pain in my ribs and turn to see Mamá shaking her head at me. I stare at my lap and start fiddling with my fingers until I hear papá's booming voice. "Thank you all for coming so today we're going to talk about..."

I tuned him out. I usually don't ever tune out of the church but I just couldn't bear to listen to papá preach like he was some saint after what he did to me. I bet nobody here knows how he acts at home.

Suddenly something he says catches my attention, "That brings me to the topic of homosexuality." I felt my blood run cold as those words left his mouth.

895 words

y'all can't say I ain't been consistent 🙄😘