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Post by phase on Oct 12, 2006 22:17:34 GMT -5
Hannah woke up in the middle of the night, moonlight coming through the curtains shining at her feet. She sat up in bed, whimpering and rubbing her eyes.
"Kitty?" She said in her soft little voice. She'd been dreaming of Bobby running away from the lizard boy back at... well she wasn't sure what the place was called, but Miss Jenny had always called it home.
Hannah wasn't sure what home was supposed to be anymore. It wasn't anything like what she saw in movies or books.
"Kitty?" She repeated, sliding out of bed and dragging her love-worn white fox plushie with her.
A small hand pushed gently on Kitty's arm.
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Post by Shadowcat on Oct 12, 2006 22:26:58 GMT -5
Kitty hated phones. First and foremost, they never gave good news anymore; second, they were loud and shrill and annoying. Even when you put them on vibrate. They made that little... buzz. She hated the buzz.
She stayed on the line with her dad for probably five minutes at the outside. Carmen Pryde had never been a big talker, not even in court; it was part of his thing. Strong, silent type. Except he was tall and skinny, so it was more like he knew something you didn't and wasn't going to tell you.
It wasn't like Kitty hadn't known her folks had been having trouble. But every marriage had trouble, right? Right? They could've worked it out. They could've worked it out if they'd tried.
But no. It was just too much stress, her dad had said. The firm, his recent promotion to partner and all it entailed, her mom being away from home so much with her company, and of course's Kitty's "trouble..."
It always came back around to her. Always.
Kitty clicked the phone shut with a sharp snap, grim eyes boring a hole through the wall across from her as she sat up in bed, ignoring the cheerful pink glow from Phase's side of the room.
Kitty no longer had parents. She had a mom and a dad. Maybe a stepsomething at some point. Kitty'd always been convinced that no one broke up without outside influence. There was no insurmountable difficulty unless there was someone to make surmounting it look like the worse option.
On second thought, she shouldn't have snapped it. Now Hannah was stirring.
God. She couldn't deal with that right now. She couldn't even censor the internal God or add the mental hyphen. How was she supposed to deal with some kid?
"Kitty?"
Kitty closed her eyes. Maybe she'd just go back to sleep, not see the other girl sitting up in bed, her Motorola flipphone still clutched tightly in one hand.
"Kitty?"
She looked down at the little girl and swayed gently with the push on her arm, her whole body tense and angry, unfamiliar rage curling in her belly.
"Yes?" she asked tightly. Have to be nice. She's just a kid, she's just a kid, she's just a kid...
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Post by phase on Oct 12, 2006 22:44:18 GMT -5
Phase blinked a few times, stepping back at the wall of emotion that washed over her.
"Oh." She whispered.
Hannah was quiet for a long moment. She'd picked up that sort of feeling before, the sort that was fiery and painful but calmed down in time. Kitty must have just had her feelings hurt. Maybe she was dreaming too.
"It'll be okay you know," She said, her sweet six year old voice sounding too mature for its age.
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Post by Shadowcat on Oct 12, 2006 22:49:16 GMT -5
Kitty propped her chin on one knee, which was drawn up to her chest, the other leg crossed in front of her - half a fetal position.
"It'll be okay you know."
Kitty closed her eyes, willing herself not to snap - or cry. She was so sick of crying about everything.
"No," she said. "It won't. But you don't have parents. I guess you wouldn't understand."
Maybe that was harsh. Kitty wasn't thinking exactly clearly at the moment.
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Post by phase on Oct 12, 2006 22:51:38 GMT -5
Hannah held onto her fox, watching Kitty. The harsh comment didn't affect Phase much- she wasn't really cognizant of the pain of having no parents, not really knowing anything different.
"Did they die?" She asked innocently.
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Post by Shadowcat on Oct 12, 2006 23:17:44 GMT -5
"They're getting a divorce," Kitty said, moving her face so her forehead rested on the knee rather than her chin, curling as tightly as possible. "They're separating. It means they don't want to be married because they're too busy working and dealing with me to love each other anymore."
What was she even doing to them from all the way in New York? It wasn't like she called all the time anymore. That had ended a long time ago. A long time. What part of Kitty's trouble could even affect them from a thousand miles or away or more?
She wrapped her arms around her legs, pulling the one still flopped on the bed up to the other, completing the fetal position, her head still tucked in.
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Post by phase on Oct 13, 2006 20:40:03 GMT -5
Phase twisted her small fingers into her long blonde hair.
"But they're not dead. They're still going to be your parents right? Or will they be leaving."
She sat down near Kitty's bed on the floor, laying back with the stuffed fox.
"Jenny says my parents are dead."
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Post by Shadowcat on Oct 13, 2006 20:45:40 GMT -5
Kitty watched Hannah from the corner of her eye. It was the only part of her eye that could see anything but knees and the wall next to her bed.
"They're not dead," she said. "But a mom and a dad can't really be parents. Parents is like... both of them, together. I just have a mom and a dad now. It's different."
It was different to Kitty, intrinsically so; split Hannukahs, and maybe one day step-parents. God forbid.
"Jenny says my parents are dead."
"For as much good as they're doing you, they probably are," Kitty said. "It doesn't matter by the time you're your age. They can't do any of the real parenty stuff anymore anyway. You're better off without 'em."
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Post by phase on Oct 13, 2006 20:52:59 GMT -5
Phase idly played with her bare toes in the moonlight.
"But you're twice older than me. How come you need parents? Moms and Dads are good then. I bet they're sad too."
"Sometimes they fall in love. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes they're sad, and then they stop being moms and dads. That's what happened to my parents. Now they're dead."
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Post by Shadowcat on Oct 16, 2006 18:57:45 GMT -5
Kitty's head tilted back angrily and she made frustrated faces at the ceiling, her hand pressing at her temple. "You just - you do, okay? When you grow up with parents you need them for a long, long time, and that's all there is to it."
Not crying, not crying, not crying, not crying.
"Sometimes they fall in love. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes they're sad, and then they stop being moms and dads. That's what happened to my parents. Now they're dead."
Kitty stared at Hannah, her frustration strengthening briefly and then dissipating into confusion, then sagging out of her to leave her exhausted from the rage and pain and deep, overwhelming sadness. She felt like a sack of bones. Bones and Jell-o, held together with nothing but a pudding skin, and if she moved she'd break.
She breathed deeply, then one of her feet slid out from its tight position to rest straight out, too tired to keep its prone state.
"Oh, hey," Kitty said, her voice immeasurably tired. "I have something for you."
She dug around on her nighttable to find the letter from Bobby, full of his stupid jokes and ridiculous cocky confidence. He was in jail and on trial for murder, for goodness' sake. What did it take to make him stop making fun of the OC?
"Bobby sent you a bedtime story," she said, "and I'm supposed to read it to you. Here, climb up."
She pulled her legs into a sitting position to make room at the end of the bed, still exhausted but determined to discharge this last duty. Then Hannah would have no reason to keep her up and she could sleep it off. She'd feel better in the morning.
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Post by phase on Oct 16, 2006 19:37:18 GMT -5
Hannah watched her for a long moment, getting up.
"I can read, you know."
She reached out a thin arm and opened her palm for it. Not only was she an empath, she wasn't stupid.
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Post by Shadowcat on Oct 16, 2006 19:42:43 GMT -5
Kitty blinked at the little girl, a sheet of paper dangling loosely from one hand.
What could she possibly have said?
"O - okay," Kitty said, hanging it over with little argument. The old 'oh man I have to take care of everyone' tendency tickled at the back of her skull, but she was still just a little too tired to heed it.
Instead, she handed the paper over silently and pulled her blankets back up over her, watching Hannah through the dark.
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Post by phase on Oct 16, 2006 19:54:45 GMT -5
Phase went back to her bed, and hid under her blankets, falling asleep quickly with Bobby's note tucked under her arm.
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