< truth_or_dare - Childhood - Walls Between Us >
Nadine Lewis
Batman (OC)
653 words
Marie and Nadine Lewis looked at one another without speaking. Marie watched her daughter's shoulders shake, her lips quiver and barely part. She watched her child - she would always be a little girl to her mother - breathe heavily. Marie knew that look. She was lost and afraid and just trying to make sense of the world.
The older woman sank down onto the couch beside her daughter. Nadine was far too young, Marie thought, to look so old. She was very glad, all of a sudden, that Nadine had not attended Jason's funeral. The sight of her daughter dressed all in black, so lost in mourning, was almost impossible to bear.
"My baby girl," Marie whispered as she folded Nadine into her arms, pulling her close. "It's okay, sweetheart. You can cry."
"You're just coddling the girl," Jason Lewis snapped at his wife.
"Jason," Marie murmured, almost scolding. "Her rabbit just died. My baby can cry if she wants to."
He was not satisfied by this explanation. Instead, Jason went over to his wife and daughter. He grabbed the child roughly by her arms and forced her to look right at him. "You're ten years old, Nadine. It's time to grow up. The stupid rabbit didn't do a damn thing, and you couldn't even take care of it properly. Your mother and I were doing all the work."
"That isn't true," the little girl replied. "I cleaned Missy's cage every week. Fed her."
"Grow the hell up, Nadine." He released her, and she sank back onto the couch, into her mother's arms. "And you." He faced his wife. "You shouldn't encourage this nonsense. It was a rabbit. A damn rabbit, not a person."
"She loved it."
"It was a pest anyway."
"Jason!"
"Marie!" He shouted her down. "I will not have our daughter being as melodramatic as you like to get! She's going to toughen up, or I'll give her something to really cry about!" He stormed off, and a door upstairs slammed moments later.
"Hey, hey, baby girl," Marie whispered as her daughter buried her face in her mother's shoulder, crying anew. "Hey." She got Nadine to look at her and forced a smile. "Can you smile for me, sweetheart? Can you do that? No more crying. It's okay."
"Mommy..."
"Don't worry, baby. It's okay. Mommy's going to take you someplace nice if you can just smile for me."
"...The beach?"
"That's right. We'll go first thing tomorrow."
Nadine did her best to stop crying, and a very strained smile appeared on her features.
"It's okay," Nadine whispered.
"What, honey?" Marie replied, stroking her daughter's hair.
"It's okay," Nadine repeated. It was the mantra she had been taught young. Even though tears were burning her eyes, she did not let them fall, she could not let them fall.
Tomorrow she'd go to the beach. She'd spend the day there, the night, maybe part of the next day. Then she'd come home. There wouldn't be a week visit. That would feel like running away. All Nadine wanted was to escape the city for just a very little while. Jonathan would understand, she was sure of that. After all, the two of them had spent almost all day yesterday together, deciding on the story she'd give the cops. She hadn't heard from him since before he'd dropped her off at the hospital. She realized now that he was dangerous. She would tell Gordon immediately if she received any contact from him. That was to be her story.
"Baby doll, it's okay to cry," her mother said as she touched her cheek.
Nadine shook her head, pulling free of the embrace. "I'm afraid I have to go," she said, barely able to find her voice. "The," she struggled with the word, "the memorial starts in an hour. Can you--" She had to stop and draw in a deep breath to keep from crying. "Can you show yourself out?"
Marie watched her leave and sighed to herself. She couldn't understand why Nadine wouldn't let her in, wouldn't let her help.