riptide- outer banks

sixty-three | childhood traumas club

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Kori lifted her gaze up from the bracelet she was making at the sound of a door slamming shut in the distance. The beads she had been carefully sliding onto a string suddenly became wholly irrelevant to her. Her dad was home. She held her breath, waiting for it to start. For the fighting to begin and the yelling to echo through their small home.

It'd been happening every night for the past week. Money had been tight for a while now, but everything had been fine. That is, up until Luke got laid off of work. She didn't know if it had anything to do with his drinking habits, since those had gotten worse in the past few months, but she did know that at least half a dozen people had been fired. So it wasn't just her dad.

There was a pause.

Then it started.

"You've gotta be kidding me. You've got to actually be fuc—"

"I like the colors you're doing." Kiara piped up, forcing the blonde's gaze back to her.

Kori's attention shifted down to the few white and yellow beads she'd begun to lace through the string. Kie had chosen lavender, blue, and white, her bracelet almost completed. "I like yours, too." She murmured.

"I'm so sick of this shit, Luke! I'm done!" Carrie's voice shouted, tone full of frustration.

"You think I asked for this?! You think I really had ANY part in that?" He shot back, just as angry.

"Hey," Kie voiced, placing her hand atop Kori's knee. "Has it gotten any better?"

"No." She admitted, locking onto the eight year old's concerned gaze. "He keeps coming home drunk. I've never seen her so mad at him."

"Screw you. No, really. Screw you, Luke."

Kie ignored the sound of Carrie's voice, keeping her attention on Kori's darkened eyes. "Well, parents fight. And things have been hard lately. Right?"

Kori didn't say anything momentarily, flinching as glass shattered from down the hall. "Don't you walk away from me. Don't you—" Her father's voice abruptly cut out, likely becoming hushed to speak more privately to his wife.

Kie bit the inside of her cheek before a thought popped into her mind. "Hey, where's JJ? Is he at Pope's? We could go over there and we could finish—"

Before she could continue, the door to Kori's room opened. Carrie stood in the doorway, blue eyes flickering to her daughter and Kie. Despite how angry she'd just sounded only moments ago, a facade of a smile appeared on her lips. "Hey, Kiara. It's time to go home. I already called Anna. She's just pulling up."

Kie glanced at Kori one last time, reluctant to leave her there. But she had to. She turned back to the blonde in the entrance with a nod. "Okay. Bye, Kori."

The seven year old gave her a half-smile, the gesture probably looking as fake as her mother's had. It would've made sense, though, considering how much she looked like her. "See you tomorrow."

Then she was gone and Kori was left with her mother. Carrie quietly closed the door before making her way over to her daughter. She sat down next to her on her bed, back facing the door she'd just come from.

"Is everything gonna be okay, mom?" Kori asked, voice coming out small.

"I don't know. I honestly don't know." Carrie responded, instantly noticing how stern her tone had been. "Sorry, baby. I'm sorry, Karoline. Your dad—" Despite the effort not to, her eyes flashed with anger. "He's making it hard to believe that it can be."