bruises // heathers

eighteen // normalcy

Normalcy came quickly for the little family after Veronica and Jason wed that day. She wore a black dress with lace and elegance sewn into it. Veronica said white was too virgin for her. Her something old was him, her something blue was her blazer overtop the black frock, her something new was her family repaired and her something borrowed was a barrette of Elle's. Elle wore a dress like her mother's but in white. Jason wore what he always wore, feeling no need for himself to dress up. He hated suits and such, it reminded him of funerals which took him back to the death of his mother. Normalcy had never come easy for Jason, or the Deans in general. But now the Deans wasn't just his father and him and his mother. The Deans were more now, they were Veronica and Giselle. Normalcy came with a breath of fresh air, a new place to live and a marriage not in shambles.

As Giselle stood in her new bedroom she kind of frowned. It wasn't to her liking at all.

"Don't worry kiddo, we'll paint it purple and once we get your furniture in here, it'll look great." JD reassured Elle.

The white walls bothered Giselle the most. The white was too bright with the sunshine through her large windows. It was too dark with only her lamps on. She hated the white walls, it made her feel like she was in a hospital. But as she sat down on her nice pillowtop mattress, she let loose a sigh of relief. It wasn't the first time she'd moved. When her and her mother lived in on their own, they moved around the states of Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio frequently. Accounting the move to live in the apartment that they finally escaped the lease on, and the move to this new house, she had moved a total of ten times in her eight years of life. But hell, ten was measly compared to the moves her father endured.

"You know, I was actually born in Ohio." He said to Veronica on the couch in their living room, Elle eavesdropping with her camera around her neck on the white stairs. White was a common theme in the house.

"Really?" Veronica asked and Jason nodded.

"Columbus, though, not Sherwood." He replied. "May 8th of 1972 at Columbus City Hospital."

"I know when your birthday is, silly." Veronica teased. "Do you remember mine?" She asked.

"Shit. I know the year is '72. June 6th?" He guessed, his voice apologetic at the fact he wasn't sure.

"Yep. And Elle's?" She tested.

"November 29th of 1990." JD grinned, proud that that date was the day his daughter was born. Veronica was overcome with an idea.

"Ellie Bug! Get the box with the pictures!" She shouted, not knowing that Giselle was right by them on the stairs crouched with her camera. Elle tiptoed up the stairs, got the box out of the attic and came down with it. She took a seat right next to her father, who put his arm behind her. Veronica took the photo box and started to go through it. "A nurse took this for me." She said, showing JD a picture of herself and Giselle. It was the day that Elle was born, she was very small and in the arms of an exhausted yet proud looking Veronica.

"Even when you just went through the most painful thing on planet earth, you look beautiful." JD told Veronica, who blushed. "And you still look just as pretty even though you're all red and wrinkly." He chuckled as he complimented Elle, who only giggled.

"This was Christmas." Veronica said, showing JD a photograph taken by Veronica's mother. Veronica was holding the baby version of Elle and pointing at the Christmas tree.

"I wish I was there." JD mumbled.

"You didn't miss much. She only slept through presents and when I tried to get a picture with Santa, well..." Veronica trailed off, handing JD a photo of a nearly-one-month old Elle being held by a very fat and jolly Santa Claus at the mall. And the picture was still very cute, even though Elle was not happy to be in the arms of a stranger.

"But I love Santa!" Elle proclaimed and JD ruffled her blonde locks while chuckling.

"Babies don't like to be held by people they don't know, it stresses them out." Veronica explained before pulling out another picture, this one was much later than the first two. Elle was now about six or seven months old, chubby and adorable with a green ball in her baby hands. Another photograph was pulled out after that one. Elle was even older now, sitting in a high chair with cake smashed all over her face and fat hands.

"That one is my first birthday." Elle told her dad. "I had a cake and I smooshed it all up and ate it." She explained.

"It's tradition." Veronica smiled before picking up another candid shot. It was a professionally done picture of her as Elle. Elle was maybe two in the photo, holding animal crackers as a ruse to stay still on her mother's lap. Veronica smiled brightly and Elle had a little baby grin to match.

"You can see the animal crackers they gave me to smile." Elle pointed out the little detail to her father.

"I always thought she looked like you in this one." Veronica said, handing a photo to JD. It was Elle in blue denim overalls and a white long sleeve shirt underneath. She was about three and had a cute smirk on her face. Her hair was curled around her neck and she had a red crayon in her hand.

"She totally does." JD smirked, looking at the picture.

"This is my first day of school ever." Elle said, holding a picture to her father in which she was wearing a yellow jumper-dress and a pink t-shirt under it.

"You look adorable." JD smiled at his daughter's happy face. He began to tear up, sad that he didn't try harder to contact Giselle and Veronica for all those years.

The family continued to look at photos together. It was normal. Normalcy had come to them all finally. Normalcy had made Elle's mental health better as now Heather bothered all of them and had learned to not try to get their kid to commit suicide. She found haunting them all a lot more fun.

However, normalcy never lasts.