[ A WATTPAD FEATURED STORY ]
•••
❝We accept the love we think we deserve.❞
But what does that really mean?
This is Eva's story; a tale of a wayward girl who had a heart of glass and when it broke, forgot that light tends to creep in through the cr...
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“How was school?” Eva questioned, lightly threading her fingers through five year old Lillian’s hair.
Lillian’s dark eyes, so much like her father’s, were sweeping over the rows of potato chips in the store, nodding distractedly in response to Eva’s question.
“No new stories of your favourite teacher Mr Walker this time?” Eva smiled, watching her little girl raise herself on her tiptoes and reach forward for her favourite brand of the snack.
Lillian shook her head, scanning the labelling on the packet of chips and only then lifting her chin to meet Eva’s eyes. “No, he called in sick today. So school was a little dull. And the teacher who took his place was old and mean.”
“Old and mean?” Eva asked, feeling something coil in her stomach. What did her daughter mean when she called someone mean? Had someone hurt her? Had they done something that left a scar in Lillian’s mind… or had they done something that left a bruise on Lillian’s skin? “What do you mean old and mean?”
“You know, I wanted to feed the hamster we keep in class, but Tessa wouldn’t let me because she said it was her turn today,” Lillian grumbled, looking up at Eva with pitiful eyes. “So I pulled her hair and grabbed the food from her to give the hamster myself.”
“That’s not very nice, Lily,” Eva frowned.
“But Tessa wouldn’t let me do what I wanted! The teacher who took Mr Walker’s place was very annoyed with me too, and said some mean stuff in front of the class. Mr Walker wouldn’t have scolded me. That’s why he’s my favourite.”
Eva placed a hand on her daughter’s shoulder and crouched down in front of her, shuffling to the side of the aisle so that another woman with a cart could push through easily. “Lily,” Eva stressed, “you shouldn’t have pulled Tessa’s hair. It must have hurt the poor girl.”
“If she just gave me the food and let me feed the hamster, I wouldn’t have done anything!”
Eva sighed and shook her head. “Darling, you can’t hurt somebody to get what you want.”
“Why?” Lillian frowned, squeezing the packet of chips between her small palms. “Daddy always hurts you to get what he wants, and you never say anything.”
Eva froze.
“So I knew that Tessa wouldn’t do anything too. I knew she’ll just let me feed the hamster.” Lillian grinned at Eva, so sweet and innocent. So malice-free. Like she was proud of learning something and making use of it for herself. Like she believed Eva would applaud her for doing so.
Lillian moved forward and placed the snack inside the basket hanging on Eva’s arm, one of those smaller shopping carts that was carried rather than pushed around. They were here only for snacks, after all.
