"Wake up," she whispers, "It's time. We must talk."
A young girl rolls over in her bed, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
"What is it, momma?" she asks.
"Look at you. My baby, all grown up. I feared this day would come. The day when your hair grew to short, when your eyes shined to dull," the mother said the words gently. She did not want the harsh words to be felt fully by the young girl.
Of course, the girl knew better than that. She saw through her mother's voice and looked directly into the eyes of the beast.
Nevertheless, she was not afraid of the beast and so she said nothing.
The mother continued, "My dear baby, how one looks upon something so strange with anything but curiosity, I will not know. You are so different from the other kids. I see now why they do not surround you like the other girls. It is ok, there is nothing you could do, for this is you and you cannot change. Momma is here for you baby." Again the mother spoke with kindness etched around the harsh words in hopes her daughter would not notice.
As she always did, the young girl turned her head for a slight second and composed herself. She would not show the beast how it affected her. No, she was stronger than that. She faced the demon straight on and forced out a reply, "Thank you, momma. It is kind of you to back me up."
Though she could hear the strain and slight rasp in her daughters voice, the mother decide to ignore it and continue. "There are many things we could do," she started with glee, "We could buy you new clothes. Goodness those old ones really do need to go. You don't know how happy it makes me that you have agreed to this. I have wanted to do this for quite some time now."
The mother stood and moved towards her daughters closet. The young girl sat and watched as her mother threw out all of her clothes.
When the mother was done she beckoned the child to follow her. The young girl paused for a second and then, figuring she had no other choice, followed her mother out of the house. Soon, they were at a store.
"I want you to go pick out five new items. I will help you with the rest," the mother commanded.
The young girl followed her mother's instructions and picked up a few clothing items, some that she thought her mother would approve of, then walked back to the front of the store where her mother was waiting.
"I have picked out a few things that I like," she told her mother. She stared up at the woman hoping to get her approval, but that hope was soon gone when she saw her mother's expression.
"These are horrible, baby. You can't pick out things that look exactly like what we just threw out; the whole point of this was to buy you new clothes," the mother shook her head with disappointment. "I cannot believe my own daughter is so stupid that she would do this," she mumbled.
The young girl could tell that she wasn't meant to hear the last part, but she did. The beast was mocking her. She knew that she could not let it get the best of her, though, and so she kept her posture still as if she had not heard a thing. "I am sorry. Can you help me, momma?" the young girl asked.
The mother smiled, pleased that her child needed her help. She would never admit it, but she took pleasure in making her child uncomfortable. It made her feel better about herself.
After two grueling hours, grueling for both females because of their differences in opinion, they finally decided to check out. They had manged to find enough clothes for the girl to wear for the next two weeks.
As soon as they were in the house the mother began to scream at her child, "I can not believe how difficult you were being in the store. Here I am trying to do something nice for you and you embarrass me in front of everyone!" When she was sure she had gotten her point across, the mother stalked off towards her room, slamming the door shut behind her.
The young girl stood gaping after her mother. She was confused. She thought back to the time they had spent in the store; she had done nothing wrong, she hadn't even argued when her mother made her try on some ridiculous outfit.
The longer she thought about it, the angrier the girl became, until she was shaking with it. She felt tears threaten to spill from her eyes, but she would not let them. She could not give the beast that satisfaction.
Soon she was calm, and she walked to her mothers room to apologize, "I am sorry for embaressing you. it will not happen again."
Even though the girl sounded like she meant it, the mother refused to accept the apology. "You really are something, thinking you could just apologize for such crazed behavior. No," the mother thought for a second, "you will make this up to me by giving me your music player and doing yard work for a week."
The young girl wanted to scream about how unfair it was, about how mean her mother was being. Instead she looked into the beas's eyes and nodded. She would do the work and not complain. It was her fault anyways. The beast reminded her that it was always her fault.
The young girl was defeated, but not broken. She would walk with pride in the presence of the beast.
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This feels unfinished but I was getting good reviews from friends so I will post it. I might change it later, but I can't bring myself to look at it right now.
