Cookies 'n' Cream 20: Exorcism
Title: Exorcism
Main Story: In the Heart
Flavors, Toppings, Extras: Cookies 'n' cream 20 (reach), rainbow sprinkles (Cecily and her family), malt (darkfaerieclaw's birthday prompt), pocky chain, fresh peaches ( As a Capricorn, you don't really like to talk about things. Talking just isn't one of your specialties. Each sign has its own role, and yours is to take action and create, not talk about doing it. However, the planetary positions today might make you utter a few very deep words. Come on! Tell us a little something about how you feel deep inside!).
Word Count: 934
Rating: PG-13 for lots of swearing.
Summary: Cecily, getting divorced.
Notes: So... yes. I was thinking about DFC's birthday prompt, and this came out. Um. The new year is about new beginnings, and so... happy new year? Also, for those of you who don't remember, Cecily is Gail's sister and Ivy's aunt.
The first few days after he told her, Cecily had nothing to say. She could barely even think.
She sat and stared at the wall, mostly.
--
It took Tyler, biting his lip with worry, to snap her out of it. "Mom?" he'd said. "Mom, you have to eat something." She realized about then that she couldn't remember the last meal she'd had, and that this was a very bad thing.
So she got up, and did things.
She had two kids, after all. Tyler and Rachel needed her. Tyler more than Rachel, probably, since he was younger, but they both needed her, and she couldn't help them if she didn't leave the house, could she?
Even if she didn't want to. Leave the house, that was.
---
She wasn't depressed, she decided later, because she didn't feel sad at all. She felt-- once the shock wore off-- angry, so angry she felt like she could put her fist through the wall, all day, every day. She kept that off her kids, at least, but Chris... he was lucky he hadn't shown his fucking face since he told her, because she'd have broken it.
Bastard. How dare he leave her? How dare he tell her with such a smug look on his bastard face?
She kept it away from her kids. She wasn't going to hurt her kids.
--
Her friends, Gail, her parents even, bombarded her with emails and phone calls and visits. "Just wondering how you're doing," they said. "Just wanted to see if you were okay."
She smiled, and laughed when her brother-in-law offered to beat Chris up for her, and generally kept herself to herself. To most of them, it didn't matter how she felt; they just wanted to feel better about themselves. It mattered to Gail, and their parents, and her best friend, but...
Cecily had it under control. She really did. She wasn't going to lean on people if she didn't have to.
--
Somebody took a picture of Chris with his new girlfriend, parading around town, and put it on the web. Tyler and Rachel came home from school looking vaguely guilty and ashamed, and Cecily very nearly drove to Chris's new apartment to beat him bloody.
She didn't; she just ripped the copy a well-meaning friend had brought her to pieces.
Tiny, shredded pieces.
The son of a bitch, how dare he do that to her children? How dare he humiliate them like that?
How dare he humiliate her like that? asked a tiny voice. She squashed it.
Her kids needed her.
--
Eighteen years. Eighteen fucking years and he dropped it all to go prancing off with some tiny blonde slut named Kayla who probably lived off air. Cecily was going to bleed him in child support, at least. He was at fault, she got the house, and he was not going to take her kids.
Somewhat to her surprise, he didn't try. He wanted visitation rights, but not full custody. Probably wanted to fuck his slut in peace.
It took a few months before she could admit that he didn't want to uproot the kids any more than he already had.
--
Cecily understood, now, a little of what Gail had gone through with Brad. She'd never seen how Gail could stand him, after what he'd said to her. But now, seeing how happy her kids were when their father visited...
And Chris did love his children. Brad had seemed like he couldn't care less. But Tyler and Rachel had a devoted father, who kept them for as long as he was legally allowed to and returned them to her only reluctantly. For their sake, not to get back at her.
She understood why Gail had tried to keep Brad around, now.
--
Katie cornered her, three months after the divorce was final, and refused to let her go until she talked.
"You're keeping this all inside, Cess," she said. "It's not healthy."
Cecily got so frustrated that she let Katie have it. All of it. The rage, the way she wanted to kill Chris with every breath. The humiliation every time he and Kayla got their picture taken. The sneaking feeling that her kids loved him more.
The terror-- turning forty-seven next year and all alone. The sorrow-- how could he just leave her?
Katie held her when she finally started crying.
--
"Mom, you can't sell that." Rachel snatched her father's stereo out of Cecily's hands. "If you don't want it, I do."
Cecily hid relief and threw her hands up. "All yours," she told her daughter. "How about you, Tyler, there anything you want?"
He shrugged. "Don't think so," he said. "Except I bet Aaron'd want that camera and it's his birthday next month."
"Good call," Cecily said, and set it aside. "All right. Go through this stuff, and take out anything you--" or Chris, but she wasn't that charitable yet-- "will want, because I'm selling the rest."
"Yes, Mom."
--
Cecily finished hammering the sign into the ground and straighted up, pleased with herself. It was funny, which should attract lots of people, and a bright orange that would catch eyes. Anything that didn't sell could go to Goodwill. Someone out there must want a bright orange tracksuit, though she couldn't imagine who.
Her divorce had been final for five months-- about time that she got rid of his stuff. Chris was already making plans to marry Kayla.
Good luck to her, Cecily thought. Poor kid was going to need it.
She dusted off her hands and got to work.
Main Story: In the Heart
Flavors, Toppings, Extras: Cookies 'n' cream 20 (reach), rainbow sprinkles (Cecily and her family), malt (darkfaerieclaw's birthday prompt), pocky chain, fresh peaches ( As a Capricorn, you don't really like to talk about things. Talking just isn't one of your specialties. Each sign has its own role, and yours is to take action and create, not talk about doing it. However, the planetary positions today might make you utter a few very deep words. Come on! Tell us a little something about how you feel deep inside!).
Word Count: 934
Rating: PG-13 for lots of swearing.
Summary: Cecily, getting divorced.
Notes: So... yes. I was thinking about DFC's birthday prompt, and this came out. Um. The new year is about new beginnings, and so... happy new year? Also, for those of you who don't remember, Cecily is Gail's sister and Ivy's aunt.
The first few days after he told her, Cecily had nothing to say. She could barely even think.
She sat and stared at the wall, mostly.
--
It took Tyler, biting his lip with worry, to snap her out of it. "Mom?" he'd said. "Mom, you have to eat something." She realized about then that she couldn't remember the last meal she'd had, and that this was a very bad thing.
So she got up, and did things.
She had two kids, after all. Tyler and Rachel needed her. Tyler more than Rachel, probably, since he was younger, but they both needed her, and she couldn't help them if she didn't leave the house, could she?
Even if she didn't want to. Leave the house, that was.
---
She wasn't depressed, she decided later, because she didn't feel sad at all. She felt-- once the shock wore off-- angry, so angry she felt like she could put her fist through the wall, all day, every day. She kept that off her kids, at least, but Chris... he was lucky he hadn't shown his fucking face since he told her, because she'd have broken it.
Bastard. How dare he leave her? How dare he tell her with such a smug look on his bastard face?
She kept it away from her kids. She wasn't going to hurt her kids.
--
Her friends, Gail, her parents even, bombarded her with emails and phone calls and visits. "Just wondering how you're doing," they said. "Just wanted to see if you were okay."
She smiled, and laughed when her brother-in-law offered to beat Chris up for her, and generally kept herself to herself. To most of them, it didn't matter how she felt; they just wanted to feel better about themselves. It mattered to Gail, and their parents, and her best friend, but...
Cecily had it under control. She really did. She wasn't going to lean on people if she didn't have to.
--
Somebody took a picture of Chris with his new girlfriend, parading around town, and put it on the web. Tyler and Rachel came home from school looking vaguely guilty and ashamed, and Cecily very nearly drove to Chris's new apartment to beat him bloody.
She didn't; she just ripped the copy a well-meaning friend had brought her to pieces.
Tiny, shredded pieces.
The son of a bitch, how dare he do that to her children? How dare he humiliate them like that?
How dare he humiliate her like that? asked a tiny voice. She squashed it.
Her kids needed her.
--
Eighteen years. Eighteen fucking years and he dropped it all to go prancing off with some tiny blonde slut named Kayla who probably lived off air. Cecily was going to bleed him in child support, at least. He was at fault, she got the house, and he was not going to take her kids.
Somewhat to her surprise, he didn't try. He wanted visitation rights, but not full custody. Probably wanted to fuck his slut in peace.
It took a few months before she could admit that he didn't want to uproot the kids any more than he already had.
--
Cecily understood, now, a little of what Gail had gone through with Brad. She'd never seen how Gail could stand him, after what he'd said to her. But now, seeing how happy her kids were when their father visited...
And Chris did love his children. Brad had seemed like he couldn't care less. But Tyler and Rachel had a devoted father, who kept them for as long as he was legally allowed to and returned them to her only reluctantly. For their sake, not to get back at her.
She understood why Gail had tried to keep Brad around, now.
--
Katie cornered her, three months after the divorce was final, and refused to let her go until she talked.
"You're keeping this all inside, Cess," she said. "It's not healthy."
Cecily got so frustrated that she let Katie have it. All of it. The rage, the way she wanted to kill Chris with every breath. The humiliation every time he and Kayla got their picture taken. The sneaking feeling that her kids loved him more.
The terror-- turning forty-seven next year and all alone. The sorrow-- how could he just leave her?
Katie held her when she finally started crying.
--
"Mom, you can't sell that." Rachel snatched her father's stereo out of Cecily's hands. "If you don't want it, I do."
Cecily hid relief and threw her hands up. "All yours," she told her daughter. "How about you, Tyler, there anything you want?"
He shrugged. "Don't think so," he said. "Except I bet Aaron'd want that camera and it's his birthday next month."
"Good call," Cecily said, and set it aside. "All right. Go through this stuff, and take out anything you--" or Chris, but she wasn't that charitable yet-- "will want, because I'm selling the rest."
"Yes, Mom."
--
Cecily finished hammering the sign into the ground and straighted up, pleased with herself. It was funny, which should attract lots of people, and a bright orange that would catch eyes. Anything that didn't sell could go to Goodwill. Someone out there must want a bright orange tracksuit, though she couldn't imagine who.
Her divorce had been final for five months-- about time that she got rid of his stuff. Chris was already making plans to marry Kayla.
Good luck to her, Cecily thought. Poor kid was going to need it.
She dusted off her hands and got to work.