1.
Everything happens for a reason. Nothing will ever change that fact. Such as a divorce between parents of a single child. The couple might have just fallen out of love, as many seem to do, and decided it was best to split before damaging each other. The child might be hurt by the separation but they couldn't have possibly saw it coming. Her parents put up their smiling and "happy" facade every time she step foot into a room.
There was no way to tell. Unless you'd heard their continuous shouting echo through the empty and desolate hallways in the middle of the night. It was normal now, the girl's father had come home, drunk she'd presume, and mother had caught him once again. She would tell him that he smelt different than when he left six hours earlier. He'd blow her off, disregarding her question like his own child. He'd say it was just a friend and she needn't worry. But she did. Neither cared for their daughter who tried to sleep with a pillow over her head to block out their shouting.
The small girl cowered underneath her duvet, holding the pillow tightly over her head to frown out her parents. She'd be exhausted the next morning, just as she always was. She drug herself out of bed, creeping down the hallways as a zombie. Her footsteps, although light and airy, caught the attention of the adults in the kitchen, causing them to quiet themselves and hold out until she left. Her mother sat at the kitchen island, while her father sat at the dining room table sipping a cup of lukewarm coffee which undoubtedly tasted disgusting with the morning paper in his hands.
They both seemed as if nothing was wrong. It was always this way. Her mother greeted her with a smile anyone could tell was fake. Seeing the dark circles underneath her daughter's eyes sent a jolt of sadness through her body.
