Her father seldom heard her; her
father seldom saw her. When she was
standing in front of him he rarely looked at her and when she spoke he rarely
listened. To him Madeline was someone who
existed between blinks. She was an
occasional creak on the floorboards. She
was a fleeting breath in the breeze. The
only time he would begin to consider her was when he felt angry, and the only
time he spoke to her was when he searched for someone to blame over something
he had already forgotten about. Nevertheless
she was culpable. Goaded by the scorn of
her crippled and bitter mother, Madeline's father would frequently threaten his
daughter first with eyes that narrowed and then with words that seemed to sharpen
his knuckles, which would then continue to pummel her already purpled teenage
torso. He always made certain to avoid
striking her face; it was his gift to her.
Her father seldom heard her; her father seldom saw her, and yet at
thirteen Madeline acquired two broken ribs resulting from 'a bad fall'. At fourteen she suffered the pain of three broken
fingers resulting from a 'silly accident', and at fifteen she discovered a
festering dark unforgiving bliss that had long been maturing in the core of her
developing and resentful soul.
Her father seldom heard her; her father seldom saw her... and so her
father never expected it.
Even the sun seemed sluggish that day. It lingered lethargically on the
horizon and allowed the shadows to breed into those provisional pockets of
black in which ill thoughts and vengeance hatch, and in which Madeline herself
had been hiding for most of the night waiting and trembling. She had concealed herself in the recess at
the top of the stairs, an alcove just large enough for a young girl and just
small enough to contain delicate wits close to tearing.
At 8am her mother called her from the downstairs bedroom; she demanded
breakfast.
At 8:01am her mother's voice raised to a shrill.
At 8:03am her father shouted at
Madeline from the upstairs bedroom for being disobedient.
At 8:03am her mother began
swearing and threatening her.
At 8:03am her father began
swearing and threatening her.
At 8:05am Madeline heard her father storm out of his room and across the
landing before kicking her bedroom door open.
She wasn't there.
At 8:06am he was standing at the top of the stairs wearing nothing but his
underpants and screaming violently at his wife.
At 8:06am his wife screamed violently in return.
At 8:06am Madeline sprang screaming from the confines of the recess and hurtled
towards her father.
Her father seldom heard her: her father seldom saw her... her father never stood a chance...
