Chapter 3: Lily (3)
When she finished showering, she stepped out of the bath, fully wet, and took off a towel from the bathroom rack, one towel for covering her nude, and the other for drying her hair, while she stepped forward to the mirror, and stared at herself for a moment.
She took out the a toothbrush, and smeared the toothpaste, and began brushing her teeth while she continued staring at herself, with no visible emotion on her expression.
She noticed how her eyes were empty inside, hollow, a true reflection of what she truly is inside and out, just an empty shell.
Sighing she thought 'It doesn't mean anything, I'm still alive, aren't I? that's all that matters, right?' she finished brushing her teeth, with a sigh.
She unlocked the bathroom door and quietly stepped out, and went to her room, and closed the door, but this time she didn't lock it. Not caring enough to blow dry her hair, or at the least comb it, she went to her dresser and took out her work clothes and began wearing them.
She works as a barista in a local coffee shop, and she is required to wear, a white t-shirt with a pink coffee mug logo, then a pink cap, with a matching pink apron on the front written, the pink café, as for pants it's up to her, she can wear a skirt or jeans or probably construction pants, they don't really care.
As long as employees are already dressed up, the moment they walk inside the café. Where she works, she has to begin working the moment her foot steps inside her work place. She finished wearing her work clothes, and jeans to pair it up with them.
Then went to the lamp table, and picked up her phone to check the time, and it was 5:05 am. She went out of her room, this time not being quiet, as she had completed everything she wanted, she stepped inside, the little kitchen counter and began preparing food.
She made herself some toast, bacon and eggs, while she made her father a bowl of cereal, then went to him to wake him up. She squatted down close to his face, and just stared at him, and a vision of her just bashing his head with a bat assaulted her.
'Why do I do this to myself?' she asked herself in thought, before calling out for her father to wake up "Paul, wake up.." he didn't even barge, sighing she called out again "Paul, wake up there's some alcohol for you." As if hearing an angels voice that promised him booze for the rest of his life, he abruptly woke up.
He was tipsy, unfocused, his balance off, yet he managed to stand up and not fall. He looked at his daughter, his expression contorted into one of irritation, but it quickly smoothed over. He could never know why seeing his daughter made him react this way.
Was it the fact she looked nothing like his wife, or because he looked like him or he just that he didn't like let alone love his daughter for no apparent reason. "Where's the alcohol?" He looked around seemingly lost. His voice gruff and hoarse, very grating to Lily's ears.
Not replying she went to the kitchen counter, and brought her food and her father's cereal with a tray to the coffee table, she picked up the remote, sat down on the couch and switched on the TV and went to the news channel were they spoke about some other large scale villain attack here in the hero kingdom.
That's why Lily never figured out why the police bother with confiscating the people's phones here, in this high criminal rated city when they all know even if people posted no one was going to care enough and risk their job and sometimes their lives to report it.
Especially after what happened to Dave.
With a little shake, she went for her food and began eating while her father did the same, as this was their routine for as long as Lily could remember. No one was talking as they looked at the news.
Paul kept giving Lily side glances, his eyes attracted to the bruises on her face, especially the red mark that was glaring at him. He felt guilty as he slowly brought his hand towards Lily's face, and by instinct ingrained in her for years of physical abuse, she backed away.
Her eyes widened with fear, her heart threatening to beat out of her chest. Her hands began trembling. Seeing her daughter react in such a way from wanting to gently stroke her cheek, he easily became consumed with guilt.
Years ago, when he laid his hands on her for the first time, he made excuses that it wasn't him but the alcohol, and that it won't happen again. But he never kept his promise, and years went by as Lily suffered for it. She tried everything to not suffer his violent blows when he returned from the tavern.
But it didn't help, as sometimes when he was determined to take out his frustration on her, and would use his ability that even when she locked her room's door, it didn't help. She would often think about running away, but she was afraid to do so.
Years of abuse made Lily a little psychotic and she would often have fantasies of killing him, every day before going to bed in his drunken sleep, but she was a little too core dependent on him, to go through with it.
And the other reason would be that at the back of her mind, she would also blame the alcohol for how her father turned out to be, ignoring the fact that each day when he wakes up, he looks upon her with disgust.
Paul has an addiction and it doesn't help his case that his also a black out drunk. But it's in no way an excuse of treating her daughter like his personal punching bag.
They both stared at each other, one with fear written all over her face, and one with misplaced guilt. Paul opened her mouth then closed and tried again, over and over again, until he settled on "Oh honey I'm so sorry I.. i-"
Lily cut him off, by saying "It's okay dad, I know you didn't mean to.." Paul looked sick to his stomach, so not knowing what to say, he went back to eating his cereal.
They stayed quiet as they resumed eating, while Paul on the other kept glancing at his daughter's way with an apologetic look. Lily thought to herself 'It's really fine dad, it's not like this is the first time you have apologized for your behaviour and actions.'
As she thought that her gaze was downcast, looking at her food, with no apparent emotions that could be gleaned from just looking at her.
'It's just a matter of time, and I would be out of here.... forever..'
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone