This is Normal
Violet was your average girl. She got decent grades, had two parents, and went to public school. Sure, she had no friends. Sure, she had violent anger issues. Sure, her parents didn’t actually love each other. Sure, her teachers hated her.
But, over all, she was just your average girl.
Like, most kids’ parents divorce, right? It’s normal. Not at all strange.
....
OK, ya, she was in denial.
Violet knew her life wasn’t ‘average.’ Most kids her age had parents who loved them and actually cared about their wellbeing and yada yada, blah blah, gag me with a spoon. Not to mention, most girls her age didn’t get in fights..
Violet was behind the school, 3 boys from her class attempting to corner her.
“You’re going to regret what you did yesterday, Emrys,” said guy 1, the ugliest of the 3, Soren. A big meathead with a thick head of brown hair to make up for his lack of brain.
“Oh, calm down! I just told the truth. Emma is a bitch!”
The other two grabbed her arms, holding her down as Soren went in for a punch.
“Don’t you talk about my girlfriend like that!”
He hissed, breathing right in her face. Ugh, why did his breath smell like onions?
Oh, wait, that was her breath. She threw up.
Ya, that’ll happen when you get punched in the gut by a guy twice your size...
The two guys who were holding her down let her go, one, Kai, exclaiming, “Ah, gross!” as he removed his blazer. The other, Dante, was just laughing his ass off.
Violet glared coldly at Soren. She knew she should just back down, let him have the last laugh and get out of this situation. But Violet was impulsive. And she hated when people thought they won over her.
So, in retaliation, she scooped up some dirt-vomit mix and threw it right in his face.
“Ah, sick!” he roars in disgust, wiping the nasty mess on his face.
“You’ll pay for that, you slimy little cu-!”
She cut him off by grabbing Kai and throwing him at Soren, knocking both of them down. She was lucky Kai was so skinny and light, even for someone of her size.
She turned her attention to Dante, who stopped laughing and now had his eyes locked on her.
She kicked him in the shin, but it only delayed him for a moment before he pinned her to the wall. She bit into his arm as hard as she could, and in retaliation, he stomped on her foot.
The other 2 managed to scramble up and get back over to her. She headbutted Dante and unslung her backpack and, at full force, slammed it into Soren’s face.
“Soren!” Kai exclaimed, but all Soren responded with was an agitated groan.
Violet decided that she had the last laugh, so booked it out of there as fast as she could, but Dante was in toe, Kai staying behind to check on Soren.
“Get back here, you red haired bitch!” Dante yelled.
Perks of being small and skinny? You can run pretty damn fast. So Violet was able to keep running far ahead. Despite the fact that she felt like she was going to throw up again.
She ran into the school, some teachers glancing at her before rolling their eyes, probably thinking ‘Just her again.’
She ducked into an empty classroom, hiding below the windows and staying as still as she possibly could. She could see his shadow looming through the window, haunting her. Searching for her.
But, eventually, the shadow went away, allowing her to let out a relieved breath.
She tried to collect her thoughts and assess herself.
Her head felt like someone smacked her with a lead pipe, her throat tastes like gasoline, and she had vomit on her shirt.
Yep, that was normal. Normal for her, anyways. Minus the vomit on shirt thing.
She leaned against the wall, not wanting to move before she pulled out her phone.
4:20 pm, March 4, 2063. No new notifications. Not even from her dad, who she is living with currently. Great.
She eventually found the strength to stand up, though not straight.
She trudged out of the classroom, walking past several teachers, none stopping her to ask if she was ok. Maybe one or two mumbled something like, “Get better soon..” “Stay safe..“, but that was about it.
Whatever, that was normal too.
She missed the bus. So she had to walk. Typical.
It was a chilly day, but it was the passing period of winter and spring, so it wasn’t as bad as some of the other days she had to walk home.
Her house was up in the distance. A small place made of yellow painted wood and a front yard patio bound to give you at least 5 splinters and an out of control garden that was clearly forgotten about years ago.
That was her dad, for you. He gains interest in something or decides he wants to have a hobby or something to take care of, but he loses interest within the first month. She knew this all too well.
The door creaked open and she announced to no one who cares, “I’m home.”
There was some noise coming from the kitchen and her dad walked out with an unimpressed look. “You’re late.”
She shrugged. “If you noticed, you should’ve come to pick me up,” she said passive aggressively before walking past him to go to her room.
He watched her as she walked off.
“What’s with the vomit?”
“Bad lunch,” she said sarcastically, met with a scoff of annoyance from her dad who decided that he actually didn’t care enough to press on.
She opened up the door to her room and immediately she felt like she entered a new plane of existence. One where she reigned supreme and no one could bother her. Especially since she installed a lock to her door and soundproofed the walls.
She could sing along to whatever she wanted, dance around, anything. And today, she played some music on shuffle. Rock and roll songs with lots of screaming and metal guitar.
She changed out of her school uniform, dropping the filthy shirt to the floor and changed into her clothes. A white collared shirt and mauve sweater vest and gray plaid skirt and gray nylon tights. She knew that most people would change into their pajamas, but Violet never went anywhere other than school and maybe the grocery store, so she never got to wear her clothes. Wearing them in her room felt like it was the only time they would be of use.
She plopped onto her bed and grabbed her laptop. She liked watching older anime on pirated websites that are definitely going to give her at least 10 different viruses. Currently she was watching a show called One Piece, the newest episode had just been released today.
She relaxed under her blankets and watched the episode without anyone bothering her. No mom, no dad, no friends. Just her, her room, and her laptop. That made her invincible.
But she was interrupted from her time of quiet by some noises outside her window. And not the typical wind in the distance or branch knocking against the glass. Human noises. Talking.
Suspicious, she approached her window, peaking through the curtains, but saw no one there. She decided that she must have officially lost her mind and dropped it.
She left her room, half waiting for her dad to say ‘Look who emerged from her cave’, but he probably didn’t even really notice she was in there for so long, like usual.
He was in his office, doing some sort of paperwork.
“Dad. What’s for dinner?”
Usual answer. “I don’t know. Make something.”
She sighed and turned away from him, walking to the kitchen and pulling out a spoon and a jar of marshmallow fluff and just eating that.
She sat at a bar stool and occasionally glanced at her phone. She didn’t know what she was expecting. Her mom to call and ask how her day was? Never gonna happen.
After her stomach began to riot against her for eating only trash, she decided to get up and put the marshmallow fluff away. Then she poked her head back into her dad’s office, like she’s a cat quietly asking ‘attention?’.
Of course, her dad didn’t notice. Figures. But that was normal, so she wasn’t too heartbroken over it.
As she was walking back to her room, she heard that noise again. Like there’s someone outside. It sounded too real to be in her head. Right?
So she decided to just walk outside and investigate.
It was late evening, so dark outside. She used her flashlight to scan her surroundings before yelling out, “Cmon out, robber!”
Her yell was met with something soft bouncing off her head.
“What the-?”
She looked down to see what hit her and saw a toilet paper roll.
“The hell?”
Then she used her flashlight to scan the trees.
“TP!?”
Toilet paper strung from the branches of her house, eggs had been splattered on her patio, and it was all a general mess.
“WHAT THE FUCK!?”
That’s when she saw those assholes.
“Bitch!” Soren yelled out before him and the other 2 goons sped away. How they got away with driving cars at 15, she had no clue.
“Seriously!? What is this, the 1980s!?”
The door opened and her dad walked out, scratching the back of his head and clearly annoyed. “Violet, what is going o- WHAT THE HELL!?”
“Dad, some guys from my class came over and did this!” she said, seething with rage. And he was too. But it seemed directed at her.
And when he grabbed her wrist and dragged her inside, that’s how she knew it was directed at her.
“Ow, dad! What the heck!?” He brought her to the kitchen and let her go, crossing his arms.
“What did you do?” he asked darkly.
“What!? What did I do?”
“Your classmates made that mess? What did you do to make them want to?”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Dad! Those guys are just dicks!”
“You did something, Violet. I know you. You are hot tempered, and you always have been. You get it from your mother’s side of the family.”
“Oh, don’t even start with that!” she spat. “You can’t blame me for this!”
“Does this have to do with why you were covered in vomit when you came home?” he said in an accusatory tone.
“No! Well, ya, but, dad, those guys started it!”
“And let me guess? You couldn’t walk away and had to be the one to end it?”
She didn’t respond. He said it as if it was bad to stand your ground. It shouldn’t be! Besides, she’s always been like this. It’s not new.
“I swear, I should’ve let you live with your mom.. Then she’d be the one to deal with the mess outside.”
Her heart dropped and that was when she couldn’t stop herself.
“She’d ignore me just the same, you asswipe!”
There was a thick silence in the air. Tension so thick, you could cut it with a butter knife.
Eventually, he spoke. “What did you say?” he asked dangerously.
“You heard me!” she continued. “I never asked to be your guys’ daughter, but I am! If I had any say in the matter, I’d live with neither of you!”
“How dare you speak to me like that?! I put a roof over your head, feed you, give you clothes!”
“The bare minimum!? And feed me!? When was the last time you cooked me dinner, dad!?”
“I get you food to cook yourself!”
“I am 15! I barely know how to operate a damn oven! I am tired of Stouffer’s lasagna made in the damn microwave!”
“Learn how to cook!”
“Why can’t you just care!?”
“I don’t have time!”
She was crying now. “Time for your own daughter?!”
“If you weren’t so high maintenance-”
“UGH!”
He sucked in a breath and struck her across the face, causing her to stumble back.
Violet’s been in a lot of fights. She once had a 17 year old football player grab her by the hair and throw her across the room. And, on a pain meter, the slap didn’t even crack the top 10.
But emotionally..
Tears spilled down her face rapidly and soon she was an absolute mess.
“I hate you!” she yelled. “You and mom!”
She couldn’t even see his face. He could be guilt ridden, trying to apologize. Or he could be seething with rage still. Or maybe, just maybe, he had that same neutral face of disinterest she saw all too often.
She got up and pushed past him.
“Where are you going!?”
“Anywhere but here!”
She grabbed a jacket off the coat rack, grabbed her purse, and ran.
“Violet Juniper Emrys, you get back here this instance!”
She ran to the garage and found her dusty, rusted bike. It was so old it still had the training wheels on. But it was all she had. She hopped on and pedaled away as fast as she could, into the night.
She couldn’t believe this had happened. Her dad hit her. She knew he didn’t like her. That was all normal. But him hitting her?
The cold air blasted against her face and she was convinced she might pass out. She stopped at a bus stop, collapsing on the bench. A homeless man glanced at her and quietly offered her a dirty rag to wipe her face.
She shook her head. “No thank you..” she sniffled.
She sat up straight and looked at the moon.
“I hate mom.. I hate dad.. I hate Soren, and Kai, and Dante..” she whispered to herself, rubbing her hands together to try and stay warm. Fuck, it was frigid.
She eventually pulled out her phone, which was at 40%. She wished she had grabbed some supplies. A charger, food, warmer clothes, a blanket...
Who could she call? She didn’t have any contacts on her phone.
Her dad started to call her, but she hung up immediately. Then he called again. Then again. Then she just blocked him. Stupid, ya, but she couldn’t care.
Her eyes landed on a contact.
Mom. Last called January 15, 2063 at 7:13 am. Her thumb hovered over the call button before pulling the trigger and clicking on it.
Brr.. Brr.. Brr..
“Hello, you have reached the voicemail of Carla White-”
Violet hung up.
Of course she didn’t answer. What was she expecting? It was normal, her mom to not answer. She was probably out boozing, laughing with friends while she bitches about her ex-husband and daughter.
The thought made more tears dare to reach the surface, but she quickly wiped them away.
The homeless man glanced her way again and he sighed before slouching over and doing something. He then tapped her shoulder and held something out to her. A pair of old, worn, black fingerless gloves.
“O-Oh. No, you need them more.”
He shook his head. “When I was your age and ran away from home, I needed the kindness of a stranger too. Take ’em.”
She stared at the gloves before taking them, not feeling grateful, just guilty. How pathetic was she that she needed the pity of someone like him?
“I can tell by your face what you’re thinkin’,” he said. “Don’t think like that. Sympathy comes round to everyone. Everyone feels that need to help, even us who may have less. Nothin’ wrong with that. Ain’t it wonderful, that that’s what unites us as people?”
She stared at him for a moment, processing his words, before blurting out, “Can you be my dad?”
The man burst out laughing and just shook his head. “Nah, nah..”
She looked away, embarrassed for even bringing it up. She hated how impulsive she was.
“You should find somewhere warm,” the man said. “There’s a shelter down the street.”
“Why aren’t you there?”
He shrugged. “I like the night.”
She couldn’t argue with that. She got up and hopped on her bike.
“Thank you for your kindness.”
He smiled. “Life’s rough. We just gotta power through it.”
She smiled back and peddled down the road.
She wondered if that man was meant to be there, as a miracle, to give her strength for what would happen next. Because if she hadn’t met him...
Getting hit by that truck would’ve been the last straw for her.
