Shells

Chapter 7

(A/N Trigger Warning: abuse, not mentioned in the show-- if you are uncomfortable reading it, send me a message and I'll be happy to summarize what you missed but on another note- double update because I wanted to give you guys more JJ and Lydia)

Lydia frowned as she stared at the place that was technically her 'home'. She didn't consider it that, if anything, the chateau was more of a home than the one in front of her. Besides, she liked to believe that home was wherever you were with the people you love. So, by that definition her home was with the pogues and she wouldn't have it any other way. She took one more deep breath before approaching the door. She had asked them to drop her off because one of her dad's friends told her that he was looking for her. The rest of the pogues were on their way to figure 8, to the hotel JJ worked at. They needed the internet and the cut still didn't have power.

As she entered the house, she wrinkled her nose in disgust at the smell of cigarettes and spilled beer. "Nice of you to finally come home" her dad slurred from the couch

"What do you need? Billy sent me" Lydia said, keeping her distance

"What do I need?" He growled, standing and approaching her, "You think that you can just run around and do whatever you want?"

Lydia looked down, trying not to piss him off even more. This backfired when he took her silence as a sign of disrespect. He grabbed her jaw, forcing her to look at him, slamming her up against the wall

"YOU THINK YOU'RE TOUGH?" He yelled, throwing her across the room. She landed roughly on their coffee table, breaking directly through the top of it. She gasped, trying to get air back into her lungs

"YOU THINK YOU CAN COME IN HERE AND BREAK THINGS? AFTER BEING GONE FOR WEEKS? I GUESS YOU HAVEN'T LEARNED YOUR LESSON" He screamed at her

"No, please, I'm sorry. I'll get the money to fix it" She begged, trying to crawl away from him. But he was quicker, he pinned her down, punching her face. He looked around for things he could use to 'teach her a lesson' and grinned as his eyes fell on his pack of cigarettes.

He lit one up, taking a long drag, watching his daughter cry and try to escape from under him. "You know, Lydia" He slurred, beginning to pull up her shirt, revealing her stomach, "I don't want to do this. But you leave me no choice". Before she could even process what was happening, he pressed the lit cigarette into her stomach. She screamed in pain, wishing for it all to end. He found any place, on her torso, upper thighs, that he could burn. But that could be easily hidden. He was drunk and stupid, but not enough to get sloppy with his abuse. This went on until he decided she had been punished enough. He pushed himself off of her and onto the couch.

"Get me a beer" He grumbled "And clean up your mess"

Lydia, slowly peeled herself off the floor, ignoring the agonizing pain shooting through her body with each movement. She knew it would only be worse if she didn't do as he said and the sooner she could get him drunk enough to pass out, the sooner she could leave.

When her father had finally passed out, she packed numerous bags, shoving anything of importance into them. She knew she couldn't come back to that house, not after what had happened. She was afraid that he'd kill her if she ever came back. So she climbed out her window, giving one last glance to her personal hell and began her painful, and very slow walk to the chateau

*****

When the group had gotten back to the chateau, they weren't surprised to see Lydia sitting cross-legged on the porch. She hoped that she had made herself presentable enough to the point where her friends wouldn't ask too many questions. She loved them and trusted them with everything in her being, but she didn't want to worry them.