PREFACE
Outside of 4444 Forth Drive, comfortable shoes waited impatiently in the dark. On the other side of the door, a 16-year-old blondie named Mariah fixed her hair before flinging open the door to greet the pizza delivery boy with her white smile.
"P-pizza," stuttered the boy underneath the blue cap.
"Thank you!" Her sunshine ringlets bounced as she took the warm box into her arms. The delivery boy couldn't help but peer over her shoulder where the shadow of his face soon met the light streaming from the kitchen. As quickly as his face was illuminated, darkness overcame his features as the girl's curls eclipsed the soft orange light. "Here you go!" Her melodic voice rung in his ears, replacing the quietness coming from inside the house. "Twenty dollars. Keep the change!"
"Thanks a lot. Have a good night," replied the boy sheepishly to which the girl responded with a joyous disyllable. The door closed behind her with a thud and thus proceeded the rest of the evening inside the one-story house of 4444 Forth Drive.
CHAPTER 1
"I got the pizza!" announced Mariah as she neared the kitchen. "Yeah, you do, baby," his voice sounded like fire she wanted to put out. Paying no attention to the black-haired loser sitting on the kitchen counter, Mariah placed the pizza box at the center of the dining table. She didn't dare look up as she heard his figure jump down from the counter, his heavy steps sounding nearer and nearer.
"You got the cakes, too, babe." Within an instant, Mariah was by the door, fleeing from Clyde's groping hands. "Don't touch me." To her relief, she heard her mother and sisters approach the kitchen. Still, she kept her eyes on the glint of his eyes. "Later," his thin lips swore to her.
"Don't fucking tell me the pizza's got fruit," Mary, nineteen and ready to die, sighed as she reached for the box. "Combination," she slammed the lid shut. "Who the hell orders pizza just to eat vegetables?"
"Language," mother Maria warned. Marie trailed behind her, a small book in her hand.
"We already discussed this," Clyde pointed at the book. "No reading at the table."
"You're not my father," Marie sat down, placing the book in front of her. Clyde directed his glare at Maria, who always looked like she was ready to go to sleep. "Are you gonna let her talk to me like that?"
"Let's just say our grace," Maria sighed, her brown eyes moving with incredible slowness around the table.
"There is no god but for you, mom, why the fuck not?" Mary sat down and clasped her hands together. "Let's do this, my demons!"
"You can't be an atheist if you believe in demons," Marie interrupted, staring at her younger sister with the face everyone hated: her you're-stupid-and-I'm-not face.
"Listen, bitch-"
"Our Father who is in heaven, hollowed be your name," Maria began, hoping to silence her daughters' argument.
"You think you're so much better than everyone just because you go to a community college? How long have you stayed there? It's a fucking two-year college. And you've been there for, what-"
"Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in-"
"-fucking, four years?"
Maria opened her eyes to find that nobody else had theirs closed. She sighed once again. "Amen."
"Hallelujah," Mary agreed. Marie closed her book to give Mary a little something she called 'piece of her beautiful mind'.
"Babe, your kids are terrible," Clyde commented, tearing himself a slice and nearly consuming it in one bite. "Why don't you just kick them out or something?" he asked while giving Mariah a look only she could see.
"They're my children. I am their mother," Maria replied, as if that explained everything.
"Well, I'm not gonna argue with you," Clyde shrugged, shoving another slice into his mouth. He offered Mariah a piece, a casual gesture that only to Mariah meant all things unusual and unwelcomed. She denied him and he responded with a slight smile. Maria, completely unaware of her 25-year-old boyfriend looking at her youngest daughter's breasts, went on eating her pizza, bit by bit, ignoring every searing insult Mary threw at Marie and ignoring Mariah's nervous knee bouncing underneath the table.
After another minute, Marie and Mary had stomped back to their rooms and only the other three remained seated.
"I think I'm finished," Mariah got up, keeping her eyes trained on her depressed mother. "See you later," Clyde said quietly, that loathsome fire dancing behind his eyes again.
Slippery hands.
It was all she could think of.
Copyright © 2017 Ma. K. Daz
