Fic: May the Circle Be Broken
Title: May The Circle Be Broken
Author: cranberry_pi
Rating: R for dark themes (Trigger warning for undetailed physical and sexual abuse)
Spoilers: Season 1, I guess? But it's AU after that anyway.
Summary: A short drabble about the nature of abuse, and how it's overcome.
A/N: I know I have a crapload of comments I've yet to respond to and a whole bunch of things to write, I've just been a bit short on time lately. I'll do my best to get on it again, I promise.
She’s four years old when he breaks her arm. She’d reached across the table for a plate of macaroni instead of asking him to pass it, and that violation of table manners couldn’t be overlooked.
She’s ten when he breaks three of her ribs and punctures her lung because she was ten minutes late getting home for dinner. He tells the nurses she fell down the stairs. They doubt his story, but no one’s willing to challenge him.
She’s fourteen when he rapes her in her bed. She’d had the temerity to wear a skirt that stopped above her knees, and he tells her that if she wants to be a slut so badly he’ll show her what it’s like. He still talks about the chastity ball afterward, though, so apparently being fucked by her own father doesn’t count as losing her virginity.
She’s sixteen when she has her own daughter.
She’s eighteen when she grabs her daughters’ arm for trying to grab something on the table. She doesn’t break it, but she knows from the depth of the bruise that it was a close call.
She’s one day older when a high school classmate comes for a visit and finds her in her daughter’s room, ready to die in penance for what she did. It takes four hours of coaxing before she puts the syringe on the floor and falls into her classmate's arms with a keening cry.
She’s twenty when she and her classmate get married. They have to leave the state to do it, but it’s worth every second. Their new home is sunny and warm, and their daughter loves playing in the sand.
She’s twenty-two when her daughter comes in late from the beach. She’s held back by her wife, who calmly defuses her anger and lets her cry softly at the sickening feeling of what she almost did.
She’s thirty when her daughter comes down the stairs in a skirt that could barely be called decent and a shredded top that shows a great deal of her budding chest. The two of them have a brief shouting match, and her wife waits just out of the room - but it never goes further than that. Her wife tells her how proud she is, and she smiles through her tears.
She’s thirty-two when he dies. She takes her daughter for the first and only visit she’s ever had with her grandfather. Her wife keeps her steady, and as she stands on the fresh earth she knows she is finally free. She hugs her family and tells them she loves them. She knows she couldn’t have come this far without them.
She’s forty-five when her daughter has a daughter of her own. Her daughter is never violent with her child, never hits her, never breaks a bone or calls her horrible things that can never be taken back. She smiles, knowing that the cycle of abuse has ended and that her father has been exorcised for all time.
Author: cranberry_pi
Rating: R for dark themes (Trigger warning for undetailed physical and sexual abuse)
Spoilers: Season 1, I guess? But it's AU after that anyway.
Summary: A short drabble about the nature of abuse, and how it's overcome.
A/N: I know I have a crapload of comments I've yet to respond to and a whole bunch of things to write, I've just been a bit short on time lately. I'll do my best to get on it again, I promise.
She’s four years old when he breaks her arm. She’d reached across the table for a plate of macaroni instead of asking him to pass it, and that violation of table manners couldn’t be overlooked.
She’s ten when he breaks three of her ribs and punctures her lung because she was ten minutes late getting home for dinner. He tells the nurses she fell down the stairs. They doubt his story, but no one’s willing to challenge him.
She’s fourteen when he rapes her in her bed. She’d had the temerity to wear a skirt that stopped above her knees, and he tells her that if she wants to be a slut so badly he’ll show her what it’s like. He still talks about the chastity ball afterward, though, so apparently being fucked by her own father doesn’t count as losing her virginity.
She’s sixteen when she has her own daughter.
She’s eighteen when she grabs her daughters’ arm for trying to grab something on the table. She doesn’t break it, but she knows from the depth of the bruise that it was a close call.
She’s one day older when a high school classmate comes for a visit and finds her in her daughter’s room, ready to die in penance for what she did. It takes four hours of coaxing before she puts the syringe on the floor and falls into her classmate's arms with a keening cry.
She’s twenty when she and her classmate get married. They have to leave the state to do it, but it’s worth every second. Their new home is sunny and warm, and their daughter loves playing in the sand.
She’s twenty-two when her daughter comes in late from the beach. She’s held back by her wife, who calmly defuses her anger and lets her cry softly at the sickening feeling of what she almost did.
She’s thirty when her daughter comes down the stairs in a skirt that could barely be called decent and a shredded top that shows a great deal of her budding chest. The two of them have a brief shouting match, and her wife waits just out of the room - but it never goes further than that. Her wife tells her how proud she is, and she smiles through her tears.
She’s thirty-two when he dies. She takes her daughter for the first and only visit she’s ever had with her grandfather. Her wife keeps her steady, and as she stands on the fresh earth she knows she is finally free. She hugs her family and tells them she loves them. She knows she couldn’t have come this far without them.
She’s forty-five when her daughter has a daughter of her own. Her daughter is never violent with her child, never hits her, never breaks a bone or calls her horrible things that can never be taken back. She smiles, knowing that the cycle of abuse has ended and that her father has been exorcised for all time.