Stripends of a Soul Depraved Blacker Than Soot

Main Story

It was raining heavily as Stephany was driving down the lonely, paved road, along with her young twelve year old daughter in the passenger seat. The rain pounded away at the roof of the red and blue striped Land Rover and streamed downwards on all of the clear windows, in large trickles as the young girl stared blankly out of the window; her chin rested snuggly in the palm of her hand whilst her eyes glanced out from beneath her drooped eyelids at the road side markings that whizzed by, barely visible in the heavy rain. They had travelled a long way from Washington DC, all of the way down to mid-western Colorado. It had been a very long, and a very quiet journey for the most part as neither of them had felt particularly chatty in light of recent events. Stephany glanced over at her daughter with a remorseful stare, only briefly though as she was also concentrating on where she was driving, or at least trying to. Stephany then decided to break the silence with her heavy, English accent.

"Susan love, talk to me. I know you are having a hard time with me and your father just splitting up like that, anyone would. I wish it could be different; and that we could be how we were just a few days ago, but you understand why it can't be so, right?"

Susan sighed deeply as a singular tear trickled down the side of her face and turned to stare at her mother, whom was still mainly concentrating on the road during the heavy rain. Susan Hesitated for a moment as her lips parted and then said with a very cute American accent. "Is it my fault? Is all of this happening... because of me?"

"Don't be silly love, how could it possibly be your fault? You saw what happened."

Susan looked down and let out a soft but gloomy sigh as her rickety voice perked up once more. "I already know he isn't my real dad."

Stephany stuttered unmistakeably. "H... H.. .how.... how did you... how!? When? Who told you?!" She sub-consciously slammed down hard on the breaks and nearly went into the ditch, but barely managed to maintain control, long enough for the car to grind to a halt as she brought it into the hard shoulder and looked visibly tense.

"Nobody told me. I figured it out after my twelfth birthday. The way he looks at me, the way he talks to me. It's like I'm an eyesore too him. I've seen how other fathers are with their daughters. None of them look at their daughters wishing they hadn't been born. None of them talk to their children as if they were more inconvenient than head lice." Her mother looked on, not surprised, but horrified at what she heard come out of her daughters' mouth, but didn't dare interrupt. "and he never hugs me, he'd rather jump into a fire than hug his twelve year old daughter on her birthday?" She said, remembering her 'father' almost hopping into the fireplace as she tried to steal a hug from him, only two months ago. "None of the other dads are like that, and we're not even anything alike in the first place, it's not just in my head, everyone else says it. My friend Christina once asked me... 'is he really your dad? Myyy dad says there's nothing of him in you. He told my mom so'. That was just after my birthday; which was like, the final piece of the puzzle... I guess."

Tears welled up quickly in Stephany's eyes and didn't hesitate to flood downwards over her cheeks. Susan turned and looked at her directly as she spoke. "Mom, why does that man hate me so much; when I've done nothing but try to love him? You know why, don't you? Is it something I did? Did I say something to make him that mad at me, at some point... Did I forget to do something!?" Emotion began sowing itself into her words. The only time I remember that man showing me any sort of affection... I can't even remember clearly. Just one time, when I was really young and small, he had me in his arms and he loved me. What did I do to make all of this happen, mom? Are you really my mother? Was I adopted?" The questions seemed to flow from her mouth before she even had time to fully process them in her mind and covered her mouth the second she realised, fully what she had said.