Speak To Me

A Hole In The Wall

Alice Cooper, neé Smith, had finally made her way into the driveway of the home she kept with her husband Hal and her daughters, Polly and Elizabeth. She turned the car off, taking the keys out of the ignition with a sigh. Looking up into the mirror, she cocked her head to the side. Switching the keys from her right hand to her left hand, she set them inside her coat pocket and lifted her purse from the center console, placing it into her lap. She slowly unzipped it and searched for one of her makeup remover wipes. She had always kept a small pack of them in her purse in case she had any makeup mishaps. Her constant need to look and seem presentable had begun to overtake her as a whole other person from the person she used to be before moving to the North side and conforming.

After finally taking hold of a wipe, she rubbed underneath and beside her eyes, clearing away any smudged eyeliner or mascara. When she finished, she set the towelette inside her pocket and grabbed the extra mascara in her purse to fix her eyelashes. When she finally zipped her purse back up, she stared one more time at her reflection in the mirror before looking to the front door of the house...HER house. Something in her stomach churned. She'd never felt such a thing before. Going inside would only make her, already quite unstable, emotions flutter even more. She loved her family so much. She had worked so hard to get such a great one. But that empty space inside of her had always been there. Long ago she had patched it up like a hole in a wall, eventually forgetting about it as time went on and the patch had been ruined once again.

This time, the patch had been poked through as well as creating an even larger hole...and a harder one to fill. She had a family now. Hurting any of them hurt her just to think about it.

With another sigh, she looked at herself in the mirror once more. "What are you doing, Alice?" She asked herself before finally opening the door and heading to the front porch. Once she made it to the door, she stopped before going in and plastered a large, fake smile upon her face. "Good evening, Coops!" She said loud enough for the whole house to hear with a hint of a jolly tone.

Polly sat on one of the couches in the living room, reading a book on motherhood. She looked to Alice with a grin. "Hi, Mom."

"Hey, baby." Alice set her keys down on the table beside the door. She glared at Hal's jacket upon it, not knowing how many times she had told him not to leave his jacket there. Not wanting to upset Polly or the babies, she rolled her eyes and shook her head, letting it go for once. "How've you been today? Any acid reflux?" She began to unbutton her own jacket.

Polly shook her head. "Not today."

"That's good. Good." After removing her coat, she placed it and Hal's over her forearm. "Where's your father and your sister?" She wondered, taking the makeup wipe out of her coat pocket.

"In their rooms, I think." The 17 year old dog-eared the page she was on and set the book on the table beside her. "What's that?" She looked to the wipe in her mother's hand.

"Oh. Nothing. Just one of my makeup wipes. Has anyone had dinner?" She slowly started for the kitchen, waiting for Polly to respond.

"Not yet."

"Any cravings for anything tonight?" Alice asked in a cheerful tone, heading into the next room, placing hers and Hal's coats on the hooks in the hall. She threw the wipe in the trash the moment she entered the kitchen.

"Mmmm...I don't know. I've mostly been craving sweets today." Poll yelled to Alice.

"Ohhhhh. A sweet day, huh?" Mrs. Cooper opened and closed the fridge before checking the freezer for anything to eat.

"Polly, have you seen my-" Hal walked down the last step when he noticed his wife was finally home. He gazed at her while she closed the nearly empty freezer.

"Would've been nice if you had made dinner, Hal." Alice spoke the first sentence between the two in almost three weeks.

"And how would I have done that with barely any food in the house, Alice?" He retorted, walking further into the kitchen.

"Why didn't you make a grocery run?" She placed her left hand on her hip as she widened her stance.

"Why didn't YOU?" He snapped back. "After all, you were gone for nearly two hours...you could've stopped somewhere on the way home from wherever it was you were." Hal pointed out.

"Guys, please don't fight." Polly struggled to stand from her seat in the living room and she joined them on the other side of the island counter. "Okay? The reason we have no food is because I'm pregnant and eat everything. Alright? It's my fault. Maybe I'll cut back on what I eat until the babies are born."

"That's nonsense." Hal looked to the youngest in the room.

"No one's saying that you need to cut back, Polly. What I AM saying is that maybe your lovely father wouldn't mind grabbing the groceries every once in awhile. Just because I'm the wife and I'm the mother and I basically do everything around here, it doesn't mean that dear old Hal doesn't have to pick up some slack, too!" Alice's attention was slightly stolen as she looked to Betty who had just joined the room amidst the commotion.

"What's going on?" Betty wondered, not actually wanting to know the answer. Based off of her mother's stance, her father's posture, and her sister's expression...she could tell that a fight had finally broken the two-week-long silence between her parents.

"Oh, the usual." Alice began with a sarcastic tone. "Your father and I are fighting...again. About some stupid shit."

"It's not some stupid shit, Alice! Where were you after work today, huh?" Hal crossed his arms over his chest. "And we both know the reason I didn't pick up the groceries was because you never let me! You and your OCD, controlling bullshit prevents me from ever contributing to the chores around here."

"Well...if you'd do them right-"

"Mom!" Betty sneared.

"I'm sorry. It's true." Alice's right hand rested on the counter beside her and she never broke eye contact with her husband.

"You don't mean that." Polly added, trying to keep the peace.

"Guys...can we please, just...calm down?" Betty asked quietly. "Polly doesn't need to hear this right now."

"I'm fine, Betty."

"No. You're not fine." The youngest Cooper looked to her big sister. "Stress is not good for the babies and it's not really a big deal anyway." She looked back at her parents. "I can just go pick up some groceries tomorrow and we could all go eat at Pop's tonight. Okay? I'm supposed to meet Jughead there later anyway. Why don't we all just go and act like a loving family like we used to?" She didn't mean to, but her gaze stayed on her, absent lately, mom. "Can we please? Don't any of you miss that? I know I do."

Polly nodded. "I do."

Hal sighed and looked down at the floor. "I do too.

"Mom?" Betty watched Alice change her stance.

"Yes!" Her mother forced out. "I miss it too." It was silent for a moment before she added. "I guess dinner at Pop's tonight wouldn't be too bad."

"Thank you." Elizabeth took one step back. "Now, I'm gonna go get my shoes and Polly's jacket and I'll be right down." She turned to run back up the stairs.

The remaining three looked around at each other before all sighing, almost in unison and Alice shook her head, walking passed Hal to grab her coat from the hook again. Hal avoided looking at her as he followed. When Alice had finished putting her coat on, she helped Polly put her shoes on and faked a smile at Betty when she returned from the second floor of the house. When Betty passed her, refusing to return the smile, Alice felt that hole in the wall of her being grow just a little bit bigger. Her heart sank as the three joys of her life went out to the car without even looking at her. Alone in the house for a second, she turned and looked around at everything that had been her life for the passed 18 years. The thought of more change terrified her and the hand that held onto the doorknob behind her, squeezed it even tighter. She sadly sighed once more before finally leaving the house and slowly closing the door behind her to lock it, hoping that the key would keep all of her old family memories safe and sound inside.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. The new one should be up ASAP. Please leave some reviews and let me know what you think so far. MWAH!