Daughters (Open Novella Contest 2020)

Chapter Two - Move

By the time Judith was six years old, her father had already begun to eat her whole with his eyes, starting from the top of her fair head to the tiniest of her little toes. When she turned seven, he told her she was the prettiest thing that Haventon had ever seen, then he placed his fingers through the golden strands of her hair, and reveled in the feel of it. His fingers moved down and continued to do so until he reached the part where they could move in. Judith would stand so still in those days, not knowing what to do since so much was being done to her.

So it was for seven more years, until finally, Judith got her first glimpse at what faith in God looked like: the bastard was dying of emphysema.

When she turned fifteen, she watched him light the cigarette the doctors told him not to possess. He was nestled in his big brown La-Z-Boy. Judith stood still and looked on, as the man she was forced to call her father clutched at his chest, coughing, hacking, wheezing and spitting blood, until finally, there was a heavy thud unto the carpet and he became as still as she was.

She had confessed everything when the police had arrived. They asked her why she hadn't moved when she noticed something was wrong. She had told them simply, "I froze, because that's what he taught me to do." They didn't know what she meant by that. Judith had never told anyone what had been happening to her over the years. She didn't know what happened to lost children in Haventon, and she didn't want to find out. Except now she wasn't lost or displaced, she was just orphaned.

And they left her like that. Two weeks had passed and no one knew what to do about Judith Wright. She had no other relatives that they were aware of, and no one was willing to take in the quiet teenage girl who had no friends and who didn't blink as often as one should, no matter how pretty she was. She could have killed the man for all they knew, and they didn't know.

So at fifteen, Judith learnt what it was like to be free.

The first thing she did was cut her hair. Her father had always insisted on her keeping her hair all the way down to her waist. He liked to hold on to it. She cut it just before her shoulders. When she looked down at the long strands clogging the sink, Judith smiled for what felt like the first time in all her existence. Next, she threw out every skirt and dress she owned. The ones he had made her wear whenever he wanted to see how far he could slip his hands up her thighs before she started to cry. With that disposal, she let herself scream and shout, and make all the noise she was never allowed. What she ended up throwing out were rags. Lastly, but most importantly, she slammed open the door to "their" bedroom. In one hand she held the fluid he used for barbecueing, and in the other, his lighter. It took her all but two minutes to get it all set up. And then she watched from the door, flames dancing in her eyes, burning away the memories of everything that had happened on that bed in the past eight years. When it was done, she threw the stupid lighter into the room, and she locked it for the last time ever. The next day, she took the key and dropped it in the Gladys.

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Three months passed, and everyone accepted that Judith didn't need rehabilitation in some other home. She had only needed to be alone. Alone, Judith grew into herself. She learnt how to build a heart and a soul for her body. She learnt how to smile. And finally, when the time came, she learnt how to move.

When the summer came to an end, Judith started going to school again. When she was thirteen, her father had pulled her out. She had just starting developing the body her really loved, and other boys were paying attention too. He claimed that she wasn't learning anything useful there anyways. But school had been Judith's only salvation. It wasn't always the best place, there were bad people there too, but there were also books and art projects and writing assignments, and small little avenues of freedom. So, Judith asked the principal if she could come back. It was an odd case, but the town already understood that no one was going to vouch for Judith, so Principal Walker allowed her to be the first case of an 'under-eighteen-year-old' who enrolled in school all by herself. The fact that Judith had been an exemplary student before her sudden departure also helped her.