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Tension
Echoed throughout the home are the loud volatile torrents of abuse exchanged between parents, brutal and petty name calling, shamelessly seeking revenge upon one another, slamming doors, sometimes repeatedly as to intensify the already painful situation.
And Pam, a once optimistic child forever changed by the insufferable place and people she used to call home, making toast in a kitchen destroyed from the previous mindless exchange. Her parents, Otis & Mary, would often excuse their fiery relationship stating they're passionate Italian's, but in reality it was mostly because of the lies hidden from each other and the impact this has on them. They fear so deeply that one will scrutinize the other that either one is willing to take the initial step towards addressing the problem.
There's Mary, on one hand, who takes money out of Otis' wallet, and never tries to connect her actions to the traumatic experiences of her childhood. A adolescence lived in survival mode after her father died, Mary's mother would lose their house and the two of them would live in their car for nearly a year. Or the truth behind Otis' infidelity, how he'd convinced himself that Mary just wasn't attracted to him anymore so he would stop and solicit prostitutes after work. Or how using protection was not considered a necessity, and after a year or so of this, he become very ill. His skin was yellowing, his vision was blurry and at the mere suggestion of a doctor visit would send Otis in such a rage that Mary wasn't saying anything about it.
Pam is a bystander in a personal war, she was getting pulled between her parents, and told she had to pick one, one who she "loved" more, and most importantly who she would go with in case...
In case what? She thought.
She did not want to choose, she wanted things to go back to the way they were before her family moved into, what her father would call "A better version of life".
But nothing was better about this, the home had a bizarre smell that seemed to flow throughout the home, a smell so foul it had burrowed deep inside her senses, and remaining with her even when she left the home. The constant little spats between her parents took on a scandalous turn and became all-out wars so heavy that the anger lingered about the house almost as if the it could ignite, and the distance between her father and mother was further than she ever thought possible.
Pam felt defeated, confused and as the nature of her life washed over her each day.
Nibbling on her toast in a eerily quiet kitchen Pam's mother erupts out of her bedroom with a dialogue of bitter comebacks, shouting yet again "I can't take this anymore!! Otis you've had plenty of time to seek professional help and your calling me obnoxious?
Fuck you, you're a fucking coward! Do you think about anyone else besides yourself?"
As Mary's abrasive words cascade down the staircase into the kitchen Pam is plucked right out of her seat.
"Come on Pam, you need to get a bag together of your stuff, we're leaving!"
"Mom, why? Why can't I just go? My bus gets here in a few minutes..." Pam shouts as she eagerly points to school bus inching down the street.
Her father, stumbles out into the hallway and barely able to stand at this point, yells down from the second floor
"Let her go Mary, she needs go to class, maybe she can get a chance to talk with kids her age. Come On Mary, what are you even doing here?"
Mary sheepishly nods her head giving Pam the green light and then shuts the door with a dreary fright gaze.
On the bus, kids whisper as Pam scans up and down the aisle, looking for a seat. Whispers that created an pressure inside which grew into a fear of talking with others, but Pam wasn't a complete mess, she was able to carry a pleasant dialogue with one student, Tory, also a freshman and actually uninterested in the social skills Pam lacks.
In fact Tory and Pam are allies with the exception of Pam's overthinking, and how she felt as if Tory took pity on her because Tory is basically the only person willing to talk to her after starting a new school in the middle of freshman year.
"You look like shit!" Tory hollers before quietly apologizing. Pam rolls her eyes. "I feel like shit" she muttered while rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"That bad? Damn, are your folks are trying for a world record or what?" Slightly annoyed Pam whispers "I don't wanna talk about it..."
"Fuck, girly you never wanna talk about it, you know what they say?... if you bottle it up, you'll have to deal with it sooner or later... is that you don't stay over at my house?" Tory's voice fades out as Pam is caught up in the noisy inner narrative, she wondered if the whispers about her were true could others see what her home life was through her outwardly appearance? She hadn't thought about things like that, with her parents blow ups overshadowing any kind of life but Pam could not find a moment to take in the weird and self-absorbed demands of high school. She's worried, sad all the time.
Suddenly without notice, Pam finds herself on the bus again, headed home.
A drizzle intensified as her home is washed by the stormy weather, the fence leading to the front door was locked and so Pamela stood, searching feverishly for the key before deciding to try to force it open. She worked at picking the rusty latch but her finger's kept slipping off. Angry and frustration, she looks up, noticing her mother at the window and gives her a shout.
But there's no response. Mary just walks away.
"Ok!" I guess ignoring me is just the new norm, right?"
More than a little irked Pam jumps the fence after flinging her bookbag over. Gathering her things she sees the front door is open too. How strange, she thought as she closed the door behind her. Pam sets her wet things on floor as she begins to search for her mother.
"That's weird..." she whispers to herself just prior to shouting "MOM!....Where are you?"
"Mooooommmm!" Pam takes a few steps when the panic awakens her. Blood on the stairs, walls and a smell that should have made it pretty impossible to ignore the gruesome scene where she stands.
Suddenly a loud crash can be heard upstairs, ahead of Mary bolting out of the bedroom, gripping Otis' belongings against her own wet and bloodstained clothing. Frantic and seemingly deaf to her surroundings, Mary runs past Pam. "Mom, what's going on? What's going on? ..... Mom? MOM, ANSWER ME!"
Pam watches hypnotically as Mary rummages through the kitchen before spotting the bleach then drops Otis' clothes into the kitchen sink.. drenches them with bleach as she scrubs the blood in a eerie hysterical state.
Pam's father slams his body against the kitchen counter "Mary! What you you done?"
"Don't touch me? Otis please..."
Mary skirts about the counter, using it as a blockade, hesitantly she moves left as Otis strikes to the right, Mary rushes towards the staircase but Otis throws himself at her.
With her hands against her mouth, Pam watches, disturbed and paralyzed as her mother reveals a knife.
They thrash around, each becoming more engaged as the time ticks away. Mary pushes Otis aside, stabs him...
and then again and again and again. He winces as the blood begins to drip on the hardwood floor. Mary wrestles her legs free as they are pinned by Otis' body, sobbing and still very much unaware of her daughter.
As she makes her way to the second floor, her shoulder is grabbed, forcefully spun around prior to Otis lunging the knife in her chest, turning it as her pushes the knife even deeper.
The reverberation of her shrieks pierced Pam's ears.
Mary falls to the floor. Otis takes her hand, pulling her lifeless body to their bedroom.
Just then he drops to his knees. Faint slowed breaths draw to a standstill as he drops dead. A mortified Pam shrinks to the ground, near nauseated by the impact of the situation.
Her hands tremble as she tries to make a call to authorities. "Ple.. please send help, they're dead. They're dead...." The coroner arrives a few minutes after the police, and is lead upstairs to the crime scene by a detective while Pam talks with a different detective. From atop the staircase she overhears them questioning her statement.. "Didn't she say she watched them attack one another?" the medical examiner asks.
"Yeah, why?"
The coroner explains to the detective, "the manner in which these two died is accurate but there's no way she witnessed it happening, especially less than an hour ago, they've been dead for hours, my guess would be 6 to 8 hours at the very least."
Pam's speechless, thoughts racing as the attack plays on repeat inside her head.
How could I witness something that happened right in front of my eyes that's not the case?
Am I fucking crazy or did I see ghosts?
?
TO BE CONTINUED...
@AvaMorris2020
And Pam, a once optimistic child forever changed by the insufferable place and people she used to call home, making toast in a kitchen destroyed from the previous mindless exchange. Her parents, Otis & Mary, would often excuse their fiery relationship stating they're passionate Italian's, but in reality it was mostly because of the lies hidden from each other and the impact this has on them. They fear so deeply that one will scrutinize the other that either one is willing to take the initial step towards addressing the problem.
There's Mary, on one hand, who takes money out of Otis' wallet, and never tries to connect her actions to the traumatic experiences of her childhood. A adolescence lived in survival mode after her father died, Mary's mother would lose their house and the two of them would live in their car for nearly a year. Or the truth behind Otis' infidelity, how he'd convinced himself that Mary just wasn't attracted to him anymore so he would stop and solicit prostitutes after work. Or how using protection was not considered a necessity, and after a year or so of this, he become very ill. His skin was yellowing, his vision was blurry and at the mere suggestion of a doctor visit would send Otis in such a rage that Mary wasn't saying anything about it.
Pam is a bystander in a personal war, she was getting pulled between her parents, and told she had to pick one, one who she "loved" more, and most importantly who she would go with in case...
In case what? She thought.
She did not want to choose, she wanted things to go back to the way they were before her family moved into, what her father would call "A better version of life".
But nothing was better about this, the home had a bizarre smell that seemed to flow throughout the home, a smell so foul it had burrowed deep inside her senses, and remaining with her even when she left the home. The constant little spats between her parents took on a scandalous turn and became all-out wars so heavy that the anger lingered about the house almost as if the it could ignite, and the distance between her father and mother was further than she ever thought possible.
Pam felt defeated, confused and as the nature of her life washed over her each day.
Nibbling on her toast in a eerily quiet kitchen Pam's mother erupts out of her bedroom with a dialogue of bitter comebacks, shouting yet again "I can't take this anymore!! Otis you've had plenty of time to seek professional help and your calling me obnoxious?
Fuck you, you're a fucking coward! Do you think about anyone else besides yourself?"
As Mary's abrasive words cascade down the staircase into the kitchen Pam is plucked right out of her seat.
"Come on Pam, you need to get a bag together of your stuff, we're leaving!"
"Mom, why? Why can't I just go? My bus gets here in a few minutes..." Pam shouts as she eagerly points to school bus inching down the street.
Her father, stumbles out into the hallway and barely able to stand at this point, yells down from the second floor
"Let her go Mary, she needs go to class, maybe she can get a chance to talk with kids her age. Come On Mary, what are you even doing here?"
Mary sheepishly nods her head giving Pam the green light and then shuts the door with a dreary fright gaze.
On the bus, kids whisper as Pam scans up and down the aisle, looking for a seat. Whispers that created an pressure inside which grew into a fear of talking with others, but Pam wasn't a complete mess, she was able to carry a pleasant dialogue with one student, Tory, also a freshman and actually uninterested in the social skills Pam lacks.
In fact Tory and Pam are allies with the exception of Pam's overthinking, and how she felt as if Tory took pity on her because Tory is basically the only person willing to talk to her after starting a new school in the middle of freshman year.
"You look like shit!" Tory hollers before quietly apologizing. Pam rolls her eyes. "I feel like shit" she muttered while rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"That bad? Damn, are your folks are trying for a world record or what?" Slightly annoyed Pam whispers "I don't wanna talk about it..."
"Fuck, girly you never wanna talk about it, you know what they say?... if you bottle it up, you'll have to deal with it sooner or later... is that you don't stay over at my house?" Tory's voice fades out as Pam is caught up in the noisy inner narrative, she wondered if the whispers about her were true could others see what her home life was through her outwardly appearance? She hadn't thought about things like that, with her parents blow ups overshadowing any kind of life but Pam could not find a moment to take in the weird and self-absorbed demands of high school. She's worried, sad all the time.
Suddenly without notice, Pam finds herself on the bus again, headed home.
A drizzle intensified as her home is washed by the stormy weather, the fence leading to the front door was locked and so Pamela stood, searching feverishly for the key before deciding to try to force it open. She worked at picking the rusty latch but her finger's kept slipping off. Angry and frustration, she looks up, noticing her mother at the window and gives her a shout.
But there's no response. Mary just walks away.
"Ok!" I guess ignoring me is just the new norm, right?"
More than a little irked Pam jumps the fence after flinging her bookbag over. Gathering her things she sees the front door is open too. How strange, she thought as she closed the door behind her. Pam sets her wet things on floor as she begins to search for her mother.
"That's weird..." she whispers to herself just prior to shouting "MOM!....Where are you?"
"Mooooommmm!" Pam takes a few steps when the panic awakens her. Blood on the stairs, walls and a smell that should have made it pretty impossible to ignore the gruesome scene where she stands.
Suddenly a loud crash can be heard upstairs, ahead of Mary bolting out of the bedroom, gripping Otis' belongings against her own wet and bloodstained clothing. Frantic and seemingly deaf to her surroundings, Mary runs past Pam. "Mom, what's going on? What's going on? ..... Mom? MOM, ANSWER ME!"
Pam watches hypnotically as Mary rummages through the kitchen before spotting the bleach then drops Otis' clothes into the kitchen sink.. drenches them with bleach as she scrubs the blood in a eerie hysterical state.
Pam's father slams his body against the kitchen counter "Mary! What you you done?"
"Don't touch me? Otis please..."
Mary skirts about the counter, using it as a blockade, hesitantly she moves left as Otis strikes to the right, Mary rushes towards the staircase but Otis throws himself at her.
With her hands against her mouth, Pam watches, disturbed and paralyzed as her mother reveals a knife.
They thrash around, each becoming more engaged as the time ticks away. Mary pushes Otis aside, stabs him...
and then again and again and again. He winces as the blood begins to drip on the hardwood floor. Mary wrestles her legs free as they are pinned by Otis' body, sobbing and still very much unaware of her daughter.
As she makes her way to the second floor, her shoulder is grabbed, forcefully spun around prior to Otis lunging the knife in her chest, turning it as her pushes the knife even deeper.
The reverberation of her shrieks pierced Pam's ears.
Mary falls to the floor. Otis takes her hand, pulling her lifeless body to their bedroom.
Just then he drops to his knees. Faint slowed breaths draw to a standstill as he drops dead. A mortified Pam shrinks to the ground, near nauseated by the impact of the situation.
Her hands tremble as she tries to make a call to authorities. "Ple.. please send help, they're dead. They're dead...." The coroner arrives a few minutes after the police, and is lead upstairs to the crime scene by a detective while Pam talks with a different detective. From atop the staircase she overhears them questioning her statement.. "Didn't she say she watched them attack one another?" the medical examiner asks.
"Yeah, why?"
The coroner explains to the detective, "the manner in which these two died is accurate but there's no way she witnessed it happening, especially less than an hour ago, they've been dead for hours, my guess would be 6 to 8 hours at the very least."
Pam's speechless, thoughts racing as the attack plays on repeat inside her head.
How could I witness something that happened right in front of my eyes that's not the case?
Am I fucking crazy or did I see ghosts?
?
TO BE CONTINUED...
@AvaMorris2020
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