Lock and Key

A Fight and a Window

"I'm taking you back out of school." Dad stated, walking ahead of me, into the house.

"You can't do that!" I yelled, running in front of him. He stopped and looked away from my face. I'm sure he didn't want to see the damage he had done to his own daughter.

"I'm you're father. I do what I please." He snapped back, and then walked into the house. I run after him.

"Dad! What about the play? and my friends? I was finally happy for once! Why can't you just accept that?"

"That's enough Delilah. I've made my decision." he says in a quiet but firm tone.

I ran upstairs, done with his crap. Tears were flowing down my cheeks. Once I was in my room, I flopped on my bed and called Kayla.

"Hey, Lilah. Did you get home okay?" She asked, as soon as she answered the phone.

"Yeah, I'm home, but something happened." You could tell by the sound of my voice that I was crying.

"Lilah? What happened?" She asked, her voice panicked.

"You know that mark, on my face? I lied. I didn't get burnt by a curling iron." I confessed.

"Of course, you didn't. Everyone knew you were lying. Most people were respectful enough, not to ask." Kayla said.

"My dad hit me." I told her, getting straight to the point. I heard a gasp on the other end.

"Lilah, that's terrible. Why didn't you tell me?" She asked, sadness in her voice.

"I didn't want everyone to worry." I told her, shrugging to myself.

"How'd you get home?" She changed the subject. I'm glad.

"Finn. That's what I meant by something happened. There was a fight between him and my dad." I explained.

"WHAT?!" She screeched and I pulled the phone away from my ear.

"Yep. Finn got it out of me during detention. He didn't want me to go home alone to my dad. We went for ice cream and he offered to drive me home. I told him to just bring me back to the school, so I could drive myself home. He did, but little did I know, he followed me home." I told the whole story.

When I was done, the other end of the line was completely silent. I almost thought she had hung up for a second.

"So, what now?" She finally spoke.

"Well. Now, I'm not going to school again." I complained and she groaned.

"That is not fair!" She yelled. "What kind of father doesn't want his child to have friends?"

"A very strict one." I responded.

"Is there any way you can convince him to let you come back?" She asked.

"I doubt it." I frowned but then heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I quickly said goodbye and hung up. I sat up waiting for him to barge into my room.

"Delilah." He opened my door. He looked like he had cooled down a bit, but was still angry. "Where have you been all day?"

"I was just at the ice cream shop. Don't worry about it." I told him

"Don't worry about it? You didn't come home from school with no explanation, and your telling me not to worry about it?"

"Dad. You hit me." I scolded. "I was scared to go home. Can you blame me? Look at my face." I wanted him to feel guilty. He deserved to.

He sighed and refused to look at me. "Listen. I'm sorry-"

"No. You aren't." I argued. "You would have called me. You wouldn't have taken me out of school."