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Chapter Three

By

Invisible Ink

 

 

“Oh my god,” were the words that rang loudest from Katherine’s mouth. She was so shocked a soggy cheerio flew from her mouth hitting Samantha square on the head. The feelings of trepidation that I had been welling inside of me broke free as I collapsed to the ground sobbing gleefully over our discovery. Even now I have trouble putting into words the feeling of emotions that flowed from me at that moment.

My delusions of bliss faded as I watched helplessly as Katherine ripped Samantha from the floor. Everything happened so swiftly I barely had time to react as I watched Katherine lift Samantha higher and higher into the air.  I took a few steps backwards hoping to see what was transgressing however the sheer size of Katherine prohibited my vision, leaving me with only the ability to hear Katherine’s booming voice while Samantha’s voice dwindled into a soundless void in which my ears could not pierce.

“Just look at you! This is fucking unbelievable.” I heard Katherine say.

“Sorry Mom” Katherine muttered but I couldn’t help but detect the sarcasm in her voice even though it was booming around me.

“Is dad like this too?” Katherine asked and moments later and I saw her gaze drift down towards me. A smile crept across her face in such a way that fear rippled through my body. I took a few more steps back however before my foot hit the ground I found the hand of my daughter encasing my entire body. I attempted to move my arms or legs however nothing budged. The only thing I could move was my head from left to right. I glanced over at Samantha who seemed to have a worried look on her face. I didn’t quite understand why at that moment.

“Katherine honey, thank god. You need to call for help. We ended up shrinking while looking at some weird light in the sky while waiting for you to come home.” I tried to shout at forceful as possible; as Katherine often needed a firm hand to get her to do anything above the absolute minimum.

“Like I was asking mom, so what’s going to happen about last night? I know I was a little past curfew, but it’s just that my friends have a later curfew and I couldn’t get them to leave before they had too.”

“And that unlimited data and calling plan you told me you just had to have wasn’t working either I suppose? However, this is not the time to talk about your curfew or your tardiness Katherine. You need to grab your phone and get help” 

“Why? So you can ground me?” Katherine asserts while gripping both Samantha and I a bit tighter. I definitely didn’t like where this was going.

“Ground you? You wish that you could have such a fate.” I shouted up in a desperate attempt to regain control. However, I should have listened to Samantha who was trying to get me to stop. However, I was in the flow. I wasn’t thinking about the fact my daughter was holding me in her hands and I definitely didn’t foresee the end result.

“No internet, and no phone, is more like it young lady and if you don’t nip that attitude in the butt you can forget about any kind of allowance and start hitting those want ads a little harder.”

“Greg! That’s enough” Samantha shouted while trying to wipe the tears from her eyes. “Katherine, honey, your father and I, we are just scared.  We were young once. We understand what it’s like to be out with your friends and you lose track of time. If you could just call the hospital, we can look at perhaps extending your curfew. Just please, make the call.” Samantha said while trying to free her arm from Katherine’s grip so that she could wipe the remaining tears from her eyes.

                Samantha always was the better negotiator. I probably should have let her handle things from the start. I just didn’t realize how strong she really was. Crying was her way of dealing with stress and she had cried herself stress free and was thinking much clearer than I was. I hadn’t yet grasped that the situation had completely turned on us.

                Katherine’s grip on us began to wane as both Samantha and I slid through the palms of her hands which had created a tunnel by the loosening of her grip. Desperately we tried to grasp onto a finger or hangnail, anything that might slow or stop our decent. However, both Samantha and I exited the bottom of Katherine’s fist and landed with a splash into a cool white pool.

                Giant soggy cheerios floated all around Samantha and I as we found ourselves barely able to touch the bottom of the bowl and keep our head above the milk. The milk tasted horrible, as it had turned into mixture of the cereal and milk as one substance leaving cheerio flakes permeating the milky waters leaving the odd tasting milk stuck in our mouths.

                I waded over to Samantha and helped her stand upright as Katherine laugh caused waves to form and lap over us by the slight vibrations of her body.  I immediately asked if Samantha was okay before giving her a kiss. She gripped me tightly returning the kiss as we stared up at our daughter unable to fully believe not only what just happened, but why it happened.

 

 

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