Schisms

Chapter 1

January 4^th : 6:30 AM

5 months before – Allenville

Her mind rose from the depths of a magnificent dream, guided hand in hand with a wondrous scent. Sydney sat up in her bed quickly as breakfasts enticing fragrance snuck its way into her room. Perhaps mommy had made her pancakes today! The smell alluded to just such a possibility and she would not waste a moment to take her share. She jumped from bed readying herself for the start of her day.

The purpose of life is a purpose non-existent, it is a simple contemplation of man that will never breed more than a theory. The purpose of a family is to make sense of the prior stated contemplated subject. That is to say, people have a family simply to make sense of their life, happiness is a simple belief system. It is a perspective born of a teaching, at one point and time by the creators of a society that one must accomplish a set of goals and gain an amount of items and status given a set standard of sovereignty based on how lavish they are explained to the masses to be. One of these things is a family, a life.

An adolescent girl waking up in the morning, her room filled with the very relics of a stereotypical preteen girl in the midst of a well to do prime of a happy life. Posters of bands, text books upon a bookshelf in the far end of her room. A walk-in closet beside that, hard wood floors, a ceiling fan, walls personally painted by her father and uncle as she sat with her cousins sipping lemon-lime tea in the hot Alabama sun, tanning their glistening white young skin in bikini-tops and short jean shorts when they first moved into this house some odd years ago.

She had gotten all that she wanted and all that she needed and so she was happy. She went into her clothing drawer on the opposite side of the room, facing the closet and picked out her thong – for comfort purposes she had told her dad – and lace bra before making her way to the bathroom in her room. The floor had been retiled when her father bought the house, porcelain white, her toilet a silver plating because she thought it was pretty, same as the sink, reflecting the dim gray light of the sun as it attempted to force its shine through the small window beside the bathtub and shower. Sydney stripped, stepping into the shower and humming along to the tune of Slide -by the Goo Goo Dolls playing through her walls from the living room, as she washed her hair. She studied her locks for a moment, she had always wanted to cut it, having long hair was a bit of a hassle and she was tired of having brown hair…maybe black? Short and black would be cute, with a blue streak down the middle!

She finished her shower and brushing her teeth before making her way out of the room dressed with a jean skirt, tight a bit around the thighs, and a pair of T Strap sandals, flats…she refused to wear heels to school. Along with a tight black top. She made her way out of her room, she had left her bag by the front door like most days so there was nothing else that she needed in there. All that was left was breakfast, she tiptoed from her room, her house was larger than most others in Allenville; one story, 5 bedrooms, most of which were unused guest rooms, unless her father brought Wayne over and they got plastered, or her mother was having a bad day. The kitchen was up one step just across the hall, passed the guest bathroom, one guest room a few feet passed that, along the same path facing the hall that led to the backyard – which was also quite grandiose, though it led directly into the woods. The floors were all hard wood, her father’s favorite, the walls were all painted light blue, her favorite.

The house was dimly lit by the sun attempting to travel throughout the massive home, yet coming up short around certain corners. The living room and kitchen were both washed over with gray from the windows surrounding the kitchen and living room. There Sydney’s mother lay face down on the brown leather couch. Her robe open, her leg and arm dangling lifelessly from the side of the couch, a bottle of vodka spilled over on the floor. Their television in rest mode posted on the wall. Two more bottles of beer stood empty on the table in the center of the living room, a pillow and blanket on the recliner just beside the couch – her father was probably there at one point with her mother.

“Mommy?” Sydney said like a little canary chirping happily but receiving no answer. She could smell breakfast but saw no one there cooking it. She made her way into the kitchen scanning and seeing the food perfectly set up for the taking, a dozen perfectly made pancakes, a plate of eggs, a plate full of bacon and a pitcher of orange juice. Who had made it? Then a loud man’s joyful cry rang throughout the house, rousing her mother. Sydney howled in laughter as her father burst from the pantry grabbing his daughter from behind and spinning her around stopping only as her mother gives a tired moan.

“Go make your mom a play Sweet pea” Elliot said giving Syd a peck on the forehead and his trademark perfect smile before patting her head. He wore an incredibly sharp three-piece suit and tie that hugged tightly to his powerful frame, Sydney personally thought he looked handsome. She smiled straitening her skirt and doing as she was told with a chipper grin.

Angela could hear them from the couch, she wanted to get up and tell them not to stop their fun because of her…she loved when her family had fun. She wanted to be part of their joy, but they hated her. There was no way that they could love her, she was evil; she made them turn down the music, Elliot was always doing these things for her because she was always yelling at him. A tear began to form in her eye as she thought back to all the times she had gotten angry at him for now reason. She sat up looking to her husband and daughter fixing their breakfast, playing and talking with bright smiles. She dared to let a smile form on her lips as she looked to her husband, tall, muscular, happy, loving...she wanted to touch him.

Angela moved from the couch and made her way to her husband wrapping her arms  around him from behind, her robe wide open, her naked body pressing against his. She felt an overwhelming sense of happiness in this moment, she knew he loved her and she held him tighter, burying her face into his back. He was so much taller than her, 6 foot 6 and she 5 foot 4, she easily passed as a high schooler, nearly identical to her daughter; a blue- eyed beauty, though her daughter was so much more beautiful with eyes full of merriment where hers were simply full of malice. She did not deserve them in her life and it made her want to cry for being such a pathetic person.

“I’m a horrible…” she whimpered but her sentence trailed on a sensuous moan as she felt her husband’s hand move in between her thighs, his fingers deep inside, hidden by her open robe.

“You want blue berry or cherry syrup?” Elliot said looking back with a sly smirk as he glanced to his daughter signaling his wife to keep as quiet as possible with a wink. “Cherries your favorite, right?” and Angela nodded, keeping her mouth curled in. Elliot turned to her holding her close. “I love you” he whispered in her ear, she wanted to say it back, but ….she did not deserve to; her very existence was a disgrace. But he would never tell her not to think so lowly of herself; he knew she would not listen, not believe him, so he simply said the one thing he knew she could never deny, never disbelieve; that he truly, undeniably loved her.

“Hey I wanna hug too” Sydney said rushing over, signaling Elliot to move his hand. Sydney placed her mother’s food on the counter and Angela invited her in, holding her robe closed with one hand and gesturing her daughter in for a hug with an arm stretched out. They held one another close allowing their feelings to wash over one another until the sound of Sydney’s phone vibrating interrupted the moment, followed by the chime of a female voice cheering out: “IIIIITTTTTSSSS CCCAAAAARRRRRMMMMEEEENNNNN!!!!!!!” from Sydney’s skirt pocket.

“Alright Syd your wife’s here for you” Elliot said patting her on the head. “Time for school” he gives her  a peck on the head again. “Don’t forget your breakfast”.

“Bye daddy” Sydney says grabbing her plate and a fork before rushing to the front door, grabbing her backpack and opening the door to another young girl; Carmen a bit taller than Sydney with long blonde hair, they wore nearly identical clothing save for the fact that Carmen wore short shorts where Sydney wore a skirt.

“Hi Pop” Carmen said as Sydney handed her the plate, ushering her outside. As she made her way out of the door she took one last look back as she heard Carmen chime “ooohh”. She turned seeing her father showering her mother with kisses to the neck and chest as her mother giggled attempting to shove him away playfully. Her mother had such a beautiful smile and seeing it was the one thing that she would trade all of the things that constructed her wealthy style of life to see; because truly when it all came down to it that one simple act by the woman who had given her life, the vision of her father’s love was the true source of her happy life and one day she hoped that, like her father, she might be able to pass the joy that could create such an angelic expression on to someone’s soul one day.