The Dollhouse

Chapter 11

"HAVE you seen the papers?" Daddy asked.

"Oh, don't bring that up, Percival," my stepmother waved her fork, a look of displeasure creeping over her face. "It's ghastly."

It had been a couple of days. Every time I had heard snatches of quiet conversation, I had listened through the thin walls. I heard Daddy on the brand new telephone he had somehow wangled, but as far as I could tell, it was accountant nonsense. And Rudy had been practicing the piano so often I feared my ears would start bleeding from the sheer repetitiveness.

"Are you talking about the monk in Vietnam? That one who set himself on fire in protest of the war last year?" Rudy questioned.

"Indeed."

"Dreadful," Violet shuddered, taking a sip of water.

To me, the news felt irrelevant. Sure, the sight of the monk's disfigured body was horrifying - his corpse had melted like candle wax. But I was distracted by something closer to home.

Whiskers twisted beneath the chairs under the table. Discreetly, I slipped her some of the pork off my plate.

The only sound was the clink of cutlery against plates.

I had spent the nights antagonizing myself. The neat hand of the letters. Presumably hidden, away from prying eyes. But why did Rudy take one for himself? Perhaps, he too, could not shake the thought of some phantom mistress.

But look at us. Playing happy families.

"So you get back your grades tomorrow? For what subject?"

How could Daddy pretend to be a normal father? He sounded so goddamn earnest. But then again, he didn't know that we knew.

I hated him.

Him and every other man who hurt those around them. Just for the sake of their own pleasure.

"You three are awfully quiet today," Arabella commented.

Gone was her salty attitude from the days previous. She was casually toying with her salad, seemingly content. It was in that moment I realized how much of a stranger she still was to us.

She must not know.

How could she? If she did, would we be sitting here so placidly?

The man before me had been absent for years. I thought he was trying to redeem himself - buying us lovely clothes and pets out of the guilt. After all, Washington and Pennsylvania were on opposite sides of America.

Maybe he couldn't stand the cage that was marriage. But a businessman had to avoid scandalous affairs.

Nothing was enough for my father.

He had ruined it all again.

Dad clapped his hands together. "You'll never guess where I'm going on a business trip next week. Baltimore! Can you imagine."

Unfortunately, I chose that moment to choke on a large piece of cabbage.

With leaves stuck to my throat, I thumped my chest a few times with force. "A business trip, huh?" The words were strangled.

I saw Rudy and Violet exchange a look.

It was subtle. But I caught the knowing behind their eyes.

For the rest of the meal, I shut up and ate my dinner.

At school, I had found the friendship group I had never had.