Cola 17: Hold On, Hold On
Title: Hold On, Hold On
Main Story: In the Heart
Flavors, Toppings, Extras: Cola 17 (it takes a licking and keeps on ticking), My Treat (whipped cream: Nothing will ever keep Danny down), malt (birthday prompt from roisin: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinyalice/513693762/), whipped cream (Danny ranges from two to twenty), fresh pineapple (Everywhere We Go, Eva), pocky chain, cookie crumbs (the third one, of this.).
Word Count: 500
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Danny and Michael hold on to each other.
WARNING: Implied child abuse.
Notes: Everybody needs support. Title from a Neko Case song.
Danny's little brother didn't get out of the hospital for a month. When he did, she wasn't allowed to see him. Mommy kept him in her room and wouldn't let Danny in. She said he was delicate. Daddy said to ignore it.
But Danny wanted to see her brother.
She was supposed to be asleep, but she could hear Daddy and Mommy shouting downstairs. They wouldn't know if she sneaked in.
He was really little, littler than he was in the hospital. His hair was a damp brown, his cheeks plump, his eyelashes enormous.
He didn't look delicate to her.
--
The night after the bike misadventure, Michael sneaked into Danny's room and poked at her foot, carefully. "Danny? Are you awake?"
Her shoulder ached too much for her to sleep, but she wasn't going to tell him that. "Yeah." She sat up, and helped him scramble up on her bed. "What's up?"
He looked miserably up at her. "I didn't mean to get you in trouble," he said. "I really didn't. I'm sorry."
"You didn't get me in trouble," Danny said, hugging him gently. "I got me in trouble."
"I'm still sorry," Michael said.
She'd never hated her parents more.
--
Mommy was gone.
Neither one of them understood why, or where. Daddy yelled at them, demanding to know what she'd said, but she hadn't said anything to either of them, just kissed them goodbye and told them to be good for the babysitter. Daddy left them alone after a while.
Michael's room was nicer so they went there, and hid under the bed because it was safer there.
"Do you think she's coming back?" Michael whispered, cuddling close.
Danny thought of her mother when they'd last seen her, the haunted darkness in her eyes.
"I don't know," she said, finally.
--
Their father left for the last time when Danny was fifteen. He'd left before-- none of them expected him to stay gone. But as the days passed and he didn't come back, Danny started to believe it.
"Danny," Michael said, one night in her room. "I was thinking. Dad left."
"Yeah," Danny said, and muttered, "lucky bastard."
Not quietly enough. Michael nodded. "Exactly. Why can't we?"
She looked at him askance, but then really thought about it. Yeah. Why couldn't they?
"Sure," she said. "But not until you're eighteen."
"Can't give them any reason to drag us back," Michael agreed.
--
She woke him up at four in the morning on April 2nd, his first full day of being eighteen. They were both packed, both of them more than ready to be gone from a house haunted by grief and pain and a hot and dusty town with nothing to care about.
They said nothing on the way out, lest their mother wake up. It wasn't until they were well down the block that Michael broke the predawn silence.
"Are you going to be okay?" he asked. "I will, but are you?"
"Yeah," Danny said, and grinned. "They can't break me."
Main Story: In the Heart
Flavors, Toppings, Extras: Cola 17 (it takes a licking and keeps on ticking), My Treat (whipped cream: Nothing will ever keep Danny down), malt (birthday prompt from roisin: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinyalice/513693762/), whipped cream (Danny ranges from two to twenty), fresh pineapple (Everywhere We Go, Eva), pocky chain, cookie crumbs (the third one, of this.).
Word Count: 500
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Danny and Michael hold on to each other.
WARNING: Implied child abuse.
Notes: Everybody needs support. Title from a Neko Case song.
Danny's little brother didn't get out of the hospital for a month. When he did, she wasn't allowed to see him. Mommy kept him in her room and wouldn't let Danny in. She said he was delicate. Daddy said to ignore it.
But Danny wanted to see her brother.
She was supposed to be asleep, but she could hear Daddy and Mommy shouting downstairs. They wouldn't know if she sneaked in.
He was really little, littler than he was in the hospital. His hair was a damp brown, his cheeks plump, his eyelashes enormous.
He didn't look delicate to her.
--
The night after the bike misadventure, Michael sneaked into Danny's room and poked at her foot, carefully. "Danny? Are you awake?"
Her shoulder ached too much for her to sleep, but she wasn't going to tell him that. "Yeah." She sat up, and helped him scramble up on her bed. "What's up?"
He looked miserably up at her. "I didn't mean to get you in trouble," he said. "I really didn't. I'm sorry."
"You didn't get me in trouble," Danny said, hugging him gently. "I got me in trouble."
"I'm still sorry," Michael said.
She'd never hated her parents more.
--
Mommy was gone.
Neither one of them understood why, or where. Daddy yelled at them, demanding to know what she'd said, but she hadn't said anything to either of them, just kissed them goodbye and told them to be good for the babysitter. Daddy left them alone after a while.
Michael's room was nicer so they went there, and hid under the bed because it was safer there.
"Do you think she's coming back?" Michael whispered, cuddling close.
Danny thought of her mother when they'd last seen her, the haunted darkness in her eyes.
"I don't know," she said, finally.
--
Their father left for the last time when Danny was fifteen. He'd left before-- none of them expected him to stay gone. But as the days passed and he didn't come back, Danny started to believe it.
"Danny," Michael said, one night in her room. "I was thinking. Dad left."
"Yeah," Danny said, and muttered, "lucky bastard."
Not quietly enough. Michael nodded. "Exactly. Why can't we?"
She looked at him askance, but then really thought about it. Yeah. Why couldn't they?
"Sure," she said. "But not until you're eighteen."
"Can't give them any reason to drag us back," Michael agreed.
--
She woke him up at four in the morning on April 2nd, his first full day of being eighteen. They were both packed, both of them more than ready to be gone from a house haunted by grief and pain and a hot and dusty town with nothing to care about.
They said nothing on the way out, lest their mother wake up. It wasn't until they were well down the block that Michael broke the predawn silence.
"Are you going to be okay?" he asked. "I will, but are you?"
"Yeah," Danny said, and grinned. "They can't break me."