Red Leather (Book 2)

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

When I was at the not-so-innocent age of fourteen, Daddy met a woman at work.

And as you've probably already witnessed, it isn't in my nature to share.

Daddy belonged to me. Ever since my mother died of childbirth, he had dedicated his life and soul into raising me. I was all that he had in the world, and he was all I was given. That was how it worked. That was how it was going to remain.

Suzanne was a child psychologist – an early sign that the woman needed to go.

Daddy and I were having dinner in silence, and I knew, I just knew, that something was on his mind. I didn't like when he kept things from me, so I asked, "Are you okay, Daddy?"

He looked up from his plate of meatloaf, his green eyes looking like they were in the middle of making a decision. "Poppy..."

"Yes?" My fork hung in the air. I wanted him to finish whatever he was saying. He owed it to me.

He sighed. "I've been seeing another doctor at the hospital for a while, and-"

"What." It wasn't a question. It wasn't a statement. It was simply a word that hung in the air.

"I know. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner-"

"No."

He seemed loss for words. "No?"

"You can't date anybody." It was a straight-up demand. I'd never given Daddy a demand before, but this was inexcusable. Didn't he know that everything was fine the way it was? Why, why was he trying to ruin our small but functioning family?

An ugly seed had sprouted inside of my chest, picturing women of all sizes, getting uglier and uglier by the minute. Daddy couldn't have a girlfriend. No. I imagined her taking him away from me, making him see whom I really was, and damaging everything I had been working on since that fucking rabbit was killed.

I wouldn't allow it.

"Poppy..." He looked at me strangely, and I realised that this was the only time in my life that I hadn't acted like an angel. Instead, I was acting like a spoiled brat. "I don't think it's really up to you to decide that. I'm sure you'll like her-"

No no no no no. Before he could blink, I had my plate smashed to pieces on the tile floor. "NO!" I screamed. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?! NO! I'LL KILL HER!"

And for the first time ever, Daddy and I had a full, blown-out fight.

***

Innocent, perfect, wholesome Renee was just kidding, right? She was speaking through bouts of anger – she really wouldn't do anything to harm the woman her father was seeing. No, Renee wouldn't hurt a fly. Daddy had raised Renee to be better than that.

Didn't he?

She still came over, of course. He still dated her for 6 months. I could still hear the sounds of their lovemaking through the walls during the nights she decided to stay over, and I would still stay up at night, unable to sleep, thoroughly disgusted by the thought of my father doing that to a woman.

All the while, I was imagining every weapon I could think of. An entire bottle of sleeping pills crushed into her food. Several knives and bullets driven deep into her organs. A nuclear bomb exploding her house to bits while she was enjoying a nice bath to herself. Sometimes I got a little creative. What were Suzanne's thoughts on Russian Roulette? How would she feel about a little torture? Do her nightmares usually consist of being buried alive?

Luckily I had a plan right at the very beginning, when I stormed my way into my room in tears after that fight, pulling the book out, and almost ripping it to pieces in rage. A week later we met in person, and through my smile I was injecting rat poison into her brown eyes and freckled skin and red lips.

Would Daddy still want her then?

She proved to be even more of a threat due to her profession. Daddy often forgot how thin the walls were, and I could hear her muttering during the night, "Ted, I don't think it's healthy that your daughter has access to your email and bank accounts." "Oh, if you'd just send her to my office at least once -"

Daddy would always get upset whenever she said things like this, and I smiled into my pillow whenever I heard him snap, "Poppy is a beautiful healthy girl. There is nothing wrong with her."

My moment to shine only came too soon.

A friend of mine called Steve was a car junkie, and could do all sorts of things to any vehicle he could get his hands on. So one day, I decided to visit him at his brother's auto-repair store. He was underneath a car, and seemed surprised to see me, but it only took getting down on my knees and making him happy for fifteen minutes to get what I wanted.

You see, Suzanne was making her yearly twelve-hour drive to Chicago to visit her grandmother.

"Goodbye, Suzanne," I hugged her for the very first time since meeting her. She froze, before patting her uncertainly on the back, encouraged by Daddy's brilliant smile. She knew I didn't like her. She knew I wanted to scratch her eyes out and make her swallow them. But what she didn't know was that she was never coming back from her trip.

My predictions were right, and Steve was a genius. Because several days later, Suzanne appeared on the news for approximately fifteen seconds. Dead, with her insides smattered across a wet highway. Her car had absolutely no trace of being tampered with, other than the weak braking system. Instead of suspecting an intentional murder, the news reporters made a segment on how regular car check-ups could save your life.

I came back Steve's house the next week, and did more than bend at the knees. He deserved a proper reward.

Daddy wept a lot that day, and I decided to sleep in his room in case he just needed another human being's presence. He was in shock, before all other things, and had told me that the abruptness of Suzanne's death gave him flashbacks of my own mother.

He looked at me in the darkness then, brushing hair out of my face. "You remind me every day of her, too." He held me then, whispering to himself while I patted his back, "I don't think you realise how much you mean to me, Poppy."

I was happy then. Nothing had been ruined, and Daddy was still mine.

***