Elementalist

4

Xera takes her time getting home. There is no way she'll get home before her siblings and when she does get home, she's liable to have hell to pay. Both from what she said to her mother in the car and the principal is likely to have called as well. Because of that, Xera pats her backpack pocket. She had taken the majority of the day and spent it in the library putting together a little presentation to give to her mother and if her father shows up, him too. She's had it.

She had managed to get some money from her mother for lunches before her mother was too shocked to do anything and so she takes a detour and gets something to eat from the local deli. Nothing fancy, just a sandwich, but it tastes soo good since she didn't have breakfast or lunch.

By the time she gets home she notices that all the cars are there, meaning that it will be the full family against her. Oh, joy, Xera thinks sarcastically to herself. But she's had enough of the favoritism that is showed by her parents to her siblings. She wonders just why the hell she was even born since it's obvious that she isn't wanted.

"About time you got home," her mother says impatiently tapping her foot just inside the doorway.

"If you were in such a hurry for me to get home, you could have sent one of them to get me, or come and gotten me yourself. Why are you so angry at me any way?"

"First off, the things you said about your brother and sister and then I got a phone call from your principal about what you said and refused to talk to him in his office." Her mother would have continued except Xera had enough and cut in.

"Stop, I told him I wouldn't go into his office without a female present since it is well known that he has sex with the female students. If you don't believe me then just ask Tiffany, she's the one that is proud of the fact that she's gotten off from any punishments by having some alone time with him. But, hey, if that isn't enough, I have video evidence." Xera slips off her back pack and goes to the big screen tv and pops in her thumb drive.

The others in the room are horrified by the video and at times the audio that comes up. There are scenes from school with Tiffany and Tason both taking money and going into empty rooms. They come out some time later and it's obvious that they were doing more than just talking. They are still pulling down clothes and tucking in shirts as is their companion.

Then it shows Tiffany going into the principal's office and they both come out some time later with a very rumpled and satisfied look on their faces. There is even a time when Tason is shown going into the vice principal's office, Mrs. Shawnsy, and coming out tucking in his shirt and taking the time to comb his hair.

There are time stamps for each of these actions.

Her parents are staring at the screen in horror and then turn their attention to their golden children. "It's true?"

"Of course not, mother, she's just jealous that she isn't as pretty as me." Tiffany says flipping her hair.

"Really? Jealous of you and your STDs? I think not. I have more respect for my body than you have for yours." Xera says spitefully.

Tiffany sneers at her as she looks at Xera, "You don't dress it do you?"

Xera looks at her sister incredulously. "You think I enjoy wearing pants that I can barely breathe in or shirts that are two sizes too small? I'm not like you. Mother and father don't take me shopping for clothes and since I don't whore myself I don't have the cash that you do. I haven't been clothes shopping in over a year. Mother is always spending hundreds on the name brand clothes for Tason and the barely any clothe cloths for you. You both have several sets of clothing that you haven't even used and I can't even get her to take me to walmart and get me twenty dollar jeans and a five dollar shirt. Believe me, if I could get new clothes that fit, I would."

Xera's father looks at his wife in shock, "You haven't taken taken Ivy shopping for clothes in over a year?"

"I took her just last month," Xera's mother stammers out. She hadn't realized that she hadn't taken Xera shopping.

"No, mother, that was Tiffany, the day before that was Tason. You bought a thousand dollars worth of clothes, that neither has worn and promised you would take me the next day, but never did. You were too busy and didn't have any money. Too busy getting a private massage from your favorite masseuse, Johann at the spa that is over a thousand dollars per visit.

"Every time I need something, you don't have time or money. I need a ride from my study group on the other side of the city, you send Tason. He doesn't show up because he would rather go to the party that he has his whores including Tiffany, and wants to see how many girls he can get pregnant and how drunk he can get. I end up walking home after dark through some of the most dangerous parts of the city and I get yelled at for getting home after curfew. He doesn't get in trouble for going to the party you told him he couldn't go to, he doesn't get in trouble for underage drinking. He doesn't get in trouble for getting two girls pregnant and taking them for abortions the following month, because he doesn't want to be saddled with paternity payments for the next eighteen years of his life." By now Xera is letting loose all the pent up anger and frustrations she's felt for the last seventeen years of her life.

"Now I'm getting in trouble for telling the truth. And for the mischief those two cooked up between them. They started rumors at school that I am just as much a whore as they are. I've been getting sexually harassed all day because of it. Sexually assaulted by that first guy and when I told the principal that I wouldn't go into his office with him without an adult female he got upset. Not my fault that he can't keep it in his pants.

"As for you, father dearest. You aren't any better. You have your little secretary that you've spent thousands on over the years. You have at least two children with her and you still treat them better than you do me.

"By the way, copies of this have been sent to the authorities." Xera says breaking free from the restraining hand of her father and running out of the house. She hears her siblings arguing about how many abortions they've had or their partners have had and her parents run out after her. 

Lightning strikes wildly behind her as she runs into the forest behind her house. The wind blinds her by blowing the rain and her hair into her face.

Lightning strikes wildly around her starting the trees on fire as she screams out her anger and frustration.

"That's the last thing that I remember before waking up here." Xera tells her silent audience. Then she breaks down crying. Talon pulls her into his arms and holds her gently.