bruises // heathers

twenty two // god can't help you

"Giselle," Veronica said, entering her daughter's bedroom in Camille and Thomas' house.. "We gotta go to church."

"Do we have to?" Elle asked.

"Yes, we do. House rule." JD answered for his wife, walking by the open door to Elle's room.

"But I've never been to church. Mom says she's an atheist." Elle said.

"Veronica, you used to believe in God." JD commented to Veronica, confused at her.

"Our Love is God." Veronica smirked, feeling coy at her small reference to hers and JD's teen years.

"Let's go get a slushee before church." JD offered.

"Jason, you're gonna make us all messy and sticky and Camille is going to yell at you." Veronica teased.

"It's worth it. Get dressed Ellie girl, we're gonna go get a slushee." JD shrugged his shoulders, lighting a cigarette and walking out of the room, closing the door on the way out.

"What should I wear?" Elle asked we mother, feeling naïve and innocent as she looked up into her mother's eyes.

"That dress you wore when daddy and I got married is pretty, but you'd have to be careful with your slushee." Veronica thought aloud. "How about that pink dress that makes you look like a ballerina?" She offered and Elle agreed to wear that sugar pink dress.

"Should I wear a sweater?" Elle asked.

"No one will notice." Veronica lied about Elle's arm, which small wrist wrapped in white bandages. "You can just wear your coat and take it off in church. It's warm there."

"Let's go, ladies. It's slushee time." JD grinned at his wife and daughter after they exited the bedroom that once was his mother's.

"No, Jay, it's church time. You all can get your little drinks later." Camille interrupted, appearing in a purple pantsuit.

"No Thomas?" Veronica asked.

"Oh, Ronnie, he's much too tired." Camille said sadly. Thomas was in ever more declining health, especially in the past few weeks with the Deans living with them.

"I was tired too." Elle mumbled, only to be pinched on the shoulder by her father. She let out a yelp and he eyed her, making it clear that she said something wrong and as she looked at her white converse sneakers, Camille cleared her throat.

"God will fix you, Giselle." Camille said, calling her great granddaughter by her full name as to ensure that she was taken seriously.

"Elle isn't broken." Veronica whispered to JD after Camille began to walk outside.

"I know, darling. But she's old, she doesn't understand mental illness." JD relaxed Veronica, who had gotten annoyed by the 'fixing' comment made about her child.

Elle was in a trance, staring at her shoes against the hardwood floor in a daze. "Giselle, baby, we gotta go now." Veronica said in a gentle voice to her young daughter, who only lifted her head up slightly.

"But I'm stuck." Elle whined in reply, claiming her feet were being held to the ground. At this mention, JD strode back to where she was standing, lifted her up and placed her slight frame on his left hip.

"There." He said to her, Elle buried her head into his shoulder, whining that she was still tired. "I know kiddo, once we get there you'll like it. You're still young enough for the Sunday School instead of actual church." He insisted but she only continued to pout.

"Jay, let Elle walk." Camille said, her face red with slight embarrassment. JD, despite wanting to do what he wanted, put his daughter down and slinked his now free arm around his wife's waist. Elle walked slightly in front of them, straying from Camille who seemed to not like her as much as she originally did.