The secret - an Evansson story

14

~October 2009~
The six year old girl sat on a wooden chair on one side of the desk, a man watching her intently from the other side.

The little girl knew deep down that she did nothing wrong, but she didn't have the courage to say anything to defend herself.

She fiddled with her fingers, refusing to look anywhere other than the name plate that sat on the desk in front of her. Principal Williams. Her heart pounded with fear of what her parents were going to say or do.

As the door squeaked open, the two turned their attention toward the doorway, where Scarlett stood eyeing the little girl.

Aleah immediately put her head back down, wishing it was Chris who had showed up.

"Thank you for coming in, Ms. Johansson." The man greeted with a smile, holding his hand out to shake.

The 24 year old shook Mr. William's hand and sat down in an identical chair beside her daughter.

"What's going on?" Scarlett asked, looking back and forth between Aleah and the principal.

"It seems your daughter has caused a disruption during free time today." He sighed, as if it was the worst thing that could have happened.

Scarlett raised her eyebrow, looking at her daughter for confirmation but Aleah kept her head down.

"She used 'not-so-kind' words in class as well." He continued, looking at Aleah. "Isn't that right?"

Aleah continued to ignore him, as if the conversation wasn't happening at all. It worried Scarlett, the fact that her daughter was so unresponsive.

"Did anyone witness this disturbance?" Scarlett questioned, giving the benefit of the doubt to her daughter.

"Ms. Johansson, from my understanding, your daughter swore in front of her classmates after stealing from another student." Mr. Williams shared, shaking his head in disappointment.

"From your understanding?" She defensively asked. "So no one actually saw this happen?"

"Ma'am, I only know what the other student has told me." He calmly explained, trying to calm Scarlett down as well. "Aleah refuses to talk."

Scarlett looked at her daughter once again, who still had her head down and was fidgeting with her fingers.

"Is this true, Aleah?" She asked carefully, but there was no answer from the six year old.

The 24 year old sighed. Standing up from her chair, she thanked Mr. Williams with a small smile before grabbing Aleah's hand and pulling her out of the office.

"What has gotten into you?" She asked, a little irritated as the two made their way into the house.

"I'm sorry." Aleah mumbled quietly. She looked so small and defeated.

As much as the 24 year old wanted to believe her daughter, Aleah was acting guilty, very guilty.

"You know better than to swear." She said sternly. "And since when do you steal?"

"I didn't do it." She mumbled softly as Scarlett searched the little girl's face for some kind of answer.

"Then why didn't you say that in the first place?" Scarlett questioned, her voice angry.

Aleah only shrugged, refusing to speak. It was worrying to the 24 year old but she was too upset to address that.

She was in the middle of work, filming the last bit of Iron man 2, when she abruptly left. Causing a few people on set to question her.

"Go to your room." Scarlett ordered, pointing toward the stairs. She just needed a few minutes to think things through.

"No!" Aleah screamed a high pitch shriek, stomping her foot in frustration. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Excuse me?" Scarlett was not happy, since when does Aleah act up like this? "You do not talk back to mommy, understand?"

Aleah only glared at her mother, giving no answer what so ever.

"Understand?" Scarlett questioned again, her voice more stern.

"I hate you!" She screamed as she stomped upstairs, her door slamming shut.

Scarlett knew it was just a temper tantrum, but those words dug deep.

Because, she too hated herself.

The 24 year old didn't even mean to send the child to her room as a punishment, it was just so she could calm down. But Aleah dug her own hole after being disrespectful.

The 24 year old waited for her best friend to come home. She needed help and he was the only one who seemed to have this whole 'parenting' thing down.

It wasn't long until she heard something shatter upstairs and unfortunately Chris was still not home to help her out.

"What the hell are you doing!?" She yelled, opening the door of her daughters bedroom to find a glass object in pieces on the floor.

Aleah looked at her mother, tears of frustration falling down her cheeks.

"Don't move." The 24 year old instructed as she stepped over the broken glass to pick the child up.

"No! Let go!" Aleah screeched, flailing her arms and legs as Scarlett carried her daughter downstairs.

With her hair being pulled and being slapped across the face, Scarlett has had enough.

Placing the child down at the bottom of the stairs, Aleah continued to flail her arms, attempting to hit her mother.

"Hey, look at me." Scarlett grabbed the child's arms, stopping Aleah from hitting her. "We don't hit."

But the six year old didn't listen, as soon as her hands were free, the child continued to hit her mother.

"Hey!" Chris' voice boomed causing Aleah to stop immediately.

The 27 year old didn't even care to shut the front door behind him as he stormed over to Aleah.

"What the hell is going on with you?" He questioned, turning Aleah forcefully so she would face him.

Scarlett raised her eyebrow. This wasn't the first time? She thought.

"You do not hit people!" Chris yelled in the child's face.

Aleah already had tears streaming down her cheeks, the sight ripping Scarlett's heart in half.

"Apologize right now." He ordered, his brows furrowed with anger as all he could do was look at the child in disgust.

The six year old's tears were streaming faster down her cheeks as she gasped for air.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, her voice too weak to speak normally. Chris only nodded before bringing the child upstairs to calm down.

The 24 year old sat on the couch with her head in her hands. She failed Aleah before, is she still failing her? Maybe she shouldn't have come back.

"She's been having these tantrum's everyday after school." Chris explained, sitting down next to his best friend. "I don't know what to do."

Everyday? Scarlett could barely deal with this one tantrum.

The scared feeling of ruining Aleah came rushing up. The fear of being a mom, of dealing with tantrums, she was scared of it all, but she quickly pushed it back down.

She couldn't back out right this second.

"I had to pick her up from school." She informed. "Apparently she swore in class today."

He immediately shook his head. There is no way his little girl would swear. Yes, she's heard Scarlett say a few words and maybe even him, but Aleah always called them out on it.

"I thought the tantrum's were because she wanted you." He told her. "But I don't think she's getting along too well with the other kids."

Scarlett nodded and sighed deeply. The two best friends shared the exact same worried look. They didn't want to admit it, but they had to.