Down the Rabbit Hole

A Bunny in a Vest

It is a normal spring Saturday in the Anderson household, which means that it is anything but quiet. The television in the living room is on nearly full volume as brightly colored cartoon characters flash across the screen, unwatched despite its best efforts to draw attention. The overstuffed washer is rattling away in the back room, fighting to remove the spots and stains of another messy week to prepare the clothes inside for the days ahead. And the thudding of footsteps that shake the walls and furniture pairs with the giggling and yelling of the two youngest girls as they run around the house, lost in their own imaginary world of excitement and adventure.

Yet, Lilith hears none of it. The noise-canceling headphones she'd bought herself for Christmas worked perfectly, allowing her to block out the chaos of the world around her while she focuses on her homework. Her eyebrows are furrowed in concentration as she skims the chemistry textbook lying open on the desk in front of her. With graduation just a few short months away, she would love nothing more than to ditch the assignment in favor of actually enjoying her Saturday, but she's barely passing as is, and even vocational school requires her to have the stupid diploma. Lilith is so lost in the reading of ionic and covalent bonds, along with her music playing loudly in her ears to drown out whatever noise the headphones fail to block on their own, that she fails to hear the approaching threat until it's too late.

"- these stupid things off!" The headphones are yanked from Lilith's head, pulling some of her hair with it.

"Ow!" she yells, more out of surprise than pain, turning to glare daggers at the one person who would dare interrupt her studying. "What do you want?"

Her father looks at the headphones in his hands, inspecting them as if they're a snake about to strike. "I've been calling you for the last five minutes. You shouldn't ignore me."

"I wasn't ignoring you, I couldn't hear you," she huffs in return, barely holding back the eye-roll that threatens to make itself seen any time he talks to her. "What do you want?"

"Take your sisters to the park."

"I'm busy. You take them to the park." Knowing better than to try to grab her headphones back, Lilith abandons them to her father's grasp, turning back to face her homework once again.

"I wasn't asking you, I was telling you. Take your sisters to the park," he repeats, an edge creeping into his voice.

The blonde girl doesn't bother holding her eye roll back this time as she slams her chemistry book shut. "Fine. I'll take your kids to the park for you." The feet of the chair scrape harshly against the wooden floor as she stands up.

The only response she receives is the sound of her headphones being tossed onto her unmade bed and the retreating footsteps of her father. "Take your sisters to the park," she mocks under her breath, shoving a notebook and her two textbooks into a bag. "Get a job, do the housework, raise my kids, do everything because I'm fucking piece of trash, shit excuse of a father."

Throwing her bag over her shoulder, Lilith steps out of the bedroom and into the hall. "Mari, Vivi, put your shoes on! We're going out!"

"Out?" Marilyn appears from around the corner of the hall, her eyes wide with curiosity. Her pigtails are lopsided, and her hair in general need of a good brushing. It's a shame she never sits still long enough for Lilith to do much about it.

"Out where?" Sylvia stops just short of where her sister stands, looking over the youngest's head to gaze at Lilith. She adjusts her glasses that must have slipped during whatever shenanigans and play had their father insisting upon their removal.

"The park. Let's go." Lilith doesn't need to tell them twice. Both girls immediately turn and run toward the door, skidding to a stop at the pile of shoes that's collected there over time. Lilith doesn't blame them for their excitement; she'd have given anything to get out of this place when she was their age.