Monique

Rainbows and Butterflies

Monique doesn't understand her parents. Whenever she asks how they met and fell in love, her mother gushes and starts telling the story as if it's a fairy tale. They met in their final year of high school. He asked her to prom and they got prom king and queen, and things went on from there. Her father is blunt about the matter. Her mum fell pregnant with her at the age of eighteen.

It's not all rainbows and butterflies.

Her father has locked himself in his study. All he does is blabber on about money and drink beer. He's an accountant. They say money is an accountant's god. For the first time, Monique thinks it might be true.

Take for instance the time she earned money from her first job. She worked at a small fish and chips cafe near the beach. It was less than glamorous. She was given the job of peeling prawns. They were little spiky things that came in twenty-five-kilo cartons. She earned twenty-five dollars for each carton she completed. It was a shit job. By the end of the first week, after earning a hundred and seventy-five dollars, she was fired. She was too slow at peeling the prawns. Her fingers were too small and dainty. She was a delicate little thing.

Monique wanted to burn the shop to the ground.

Once she took her pay, her father began raving on about accounts and investing her money in the bank. It was as if he was speaking German. She hardly understood a word he was saying. All she wanted to do was by sweets and a Tamagotchi. Her father said she was mad. Her mother said nothing. Monique told him the money was hers to spend. He went back to drinking his beer. John later told her she was brave.

She's barely seen John but her nightmares still continue. No one else knows about it. She's feels helpless to do anything. It's starting to drive her insane.

She looks back at the maths investigation assignment she has to do during the holidays. It's on geometry and trigonometry. Both are her worst areas in maths. She closes the twenty paged booklet.

Maths can kiss her arse.

She climbs to the top of the roof and sits there. The sky is beautiful tonight. Stars twinkle brightly in the midnight sky. The breeze blows gently, ruffling her shirt. She and John used to sit up there talking about random things such as a rabbit's promiscuity and fairy tales. They even sometimes talked about Pride and Prejudice, even though she doesn't understand the book. She still hasn't read past page ten. She'd rather die.

It's the same with Twilight. Her eyes bled.

Fifty shades of Grey made her cringe. She still doesn't understand why it's so popular.

John sometimes said she wasn't a book person. She told him she had read all the chronicles of Narnia series and Eragon. He called her a liar. A Pretty Little Liar. She refused to talk to him for two days.

She goes back down to the attic, watching her steps carefully. Falling down and breaking her neck would be an unfortunate accident. She almost giggles at the thought. The attic is warm and cosy. A large bookshelf is stationed in the corner next to a table and chair. A bed lies in the middle of the room. John loved it here. Monique runs her fingers through the books. She's someone you'd call a serial reader. She can read many books at a time but rarely finishes them. It's not her fault they lose their sense of plot, wit, humour and action by the twentieth page. Sometimes it's too damn hard to understand, especially when all the characters are blonde blue-eyed bimbos and have names starting with S. It's tragic.

There's one thing she has in common with John when it comes to books: the intense and undying hatred of vampire and werewolf fiction. It's a sour taste in her mouth. Over twenty million hits appear on goggle when she searches the Internet. Over ninety percent of them are shit.

She likes Vampire Diaries, though. Damon Salvatore is a sex god.

True Blood sends her head spinning. Their small town country accent makes her think the show should be about cowboys. It's a turn off, not to mention the sex scenes that occur every five minutes.

Her mum's out again tonight, staying back at work to do extra paperwork for a case coming up. She's sure she has everything under wraps. Monique doesn't care. She's not a lawyer. She doesn't study Politics and Law at school. Her dad drinks his beer in his study. It's the only thing the man ever does. Drink beer and sort out accounts.

He's gotten drunk many times before. The first time, he broke his laptop. The second time, he ruined the study. The third time, he broke her mum's favourite china set. The fourth time, he hit her mum.

It's not all rainbows and butterflies.