His Daughter

Chapter 5

After dinner, Lydia and I iced Scarlett. We laid her in her bed, and gave her as much ice as we could muster up. Whenever we would place an ice pack on her, she would shift, resulting in her groaning. I felt bad that she had been punished because of me. Lydia kept running up and down stairs to get Scarlett more ice packs. It didn’t take long for Scarlett to fall asleep, her body not moving at all in her bed. After we were sure that Scarlett was asleep, Lydia and I went downstairs to watch a movie.

“I feel bad about Scarlett getting punished,” I confessed to Lydia.

“Analise, it’s not your fault. If Father didn’t punish us the way he does, we wouldn’t be in this mess.” Joana! My name is Joana!

“Won’t you get punished for saying that?” I asked, ignoring the impulse to yell out

. “No. Father’s dead asleep at this time. He can’t hear a thing we do unless we make a bang.”

“Oh, ok.” Lydia stood up from the coch we were sitting on and walked over to the movie cabinet.

“What do you want to watch?” Lydia asked,

“Sleeping beauty? Mama Mia?” She lifted her hands to show the two movies.

“Definitely not sleeping beauty. It’ll make me think about Scarlett.” I shifted in my seat.

“Ok, Mama Mia then?” Lydia said, walking towards the dvd player.

“Yeah, I guess.” After she put the dvd in the player, she settled into the couch with me. A bunch of adds popped up before the movie, which had always been one of my pet peeves. When the selection screen finally showed up, Lydia selected the ‘Play Movie’ button. I tried to focus as the movie rolled, but my mind went back to Jack.

When would Father kidnap him? How old will he be? And will he hate me? These and more thoughts swirled my head as the movie continued. By the end of it, I didn’t remember anything from it. Lydia yawned, and I took it as a cue to go to bed. I hugged her goodnight and walked up to my room.

I could hear Scarlett whimpering on her sleep, which put me on edge. I changed into my nightgown, which was made of cotton. I jumped into bed, and the materess squeaked. When I tried to lay down, the bed began to feel lumpy and uncomfortable to lay on. As I tried to adjust to the bed, I wished that I had my tv to lull me to sleep. My mind wandered, and led me back to the same persisting thought.  Lydia might have been tired, but I didn’t sleep a wink. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When 7 am rolled around, I realised I forgot to pick out my outfit. I rushed out of bed, and threw open my dresser. Inside was a few outfits. The first one I saw, I grabbed, which turned out to be a pale blue sweater and black leggings. I threw then on, and rushed down stairs. There was Lydia, still in her night clothes.

“Um, hi. Why are you still in pajamas?” Lydia giggled lightly.

“We make breakfast, then take showers and get changed. So you might want to change back. Don’t worry, I’ll handle breakfast until you get back.” My cheeks flushed, and I ran upstairs to change. After I changed, I decided to check up on Scarlett, since Lydia was taking care of breakfast for a second. I creaked open the door to see a sleeping Scarlett.

She looked a little better; the swelling had gone down. Her bruises were brown now, and her cuts were scabbing. She was flushed, and sweat was beading on her forehead. I quickly left the room, deciding that I would ask Lydia when she would wake Scarlett up. I quietly closed the door behind me, and snuck downstairs. I walked into the kitchen, where Lydia was stirring pancake batter. She turned around, and flashed me a smile that could have lit up an entire room.

“You’re back! Do you think you can stir this? I need to make thee bacon.” Lydia handed me the batter.

“Um, sure I guess.”

“Thanks! You’re a lifesaver.” if only someone was here to save my life. We finished making breakfast 10 minutes before Father woke up, so I decided to ask Lydia if I should wake up Scarlett.

“Not just yet, let her sleep. Father will understand that she’s ill.” I nodded my head. What qualifies as ill in this house? We plated the food, the delicious smell of Blueberry Pancakes wafting through the house. When the clock struck 8, Lydia and I sat down at the table, waiting for Father. After 5 minutes, he showed up at the table.

He was wearing a blue flannel shirt and cargo pants, so I assumed he was going outside. My gut twisted as a realized he must be going out to get Jack. My heart started pounding in my chest.

“Morning, girls. How’d you sleep?”

“Just fine, Father.” Lydia avoided eye contact.

“How about you, Analise? You comfy?” I looked at the ground.

“Y-yes, Father.”

“Great! Nice to see you’ve made blueberry waffles, they’re my favorite!” Lydia fake smiled, causing me to do the same.

“I’m glad you’re happy.”

“Let’s eat!” Father sat down, and started eating. He scarfed down nearly all his food before pausing

. “Where’s Scarlett?” Lydia and I glanced nervously at each other. “She’s ill, Father. She’ll feel better when you return home.”