Weeping Willow (Spanking Story)

Prologue, Part 1: Owen's POV

(Age 5)

Mrs. Johnston, my teacher, said that parents are supposed to take care of their children, but my parents didn't take care of us like she said they should. They're supposed to make sure you eat healthy and brush your teeth and scare away the monsters before bed. I wasn't sure if I believed her though, on account of she also said that candy was good; I knew for a fact that was one hundred percent wrong! Mommy and Daddy ate it all the time, and it messed them up and made them act all funny. I hated candy! Maybe that's why Dana did, too. 

I'd only seen parents make lunches, kiss scrapes and tuck in their kids on TV. I spent hours watching the TV (when our electric was on), wondering how I could get a family like that. I always wondered how to get through the TV, somehow hopping through the screen and joining the characters. Who wouldn't want to? They had perfect lives, and their problems were solved in the span of a mere thirty minutes. So far, it'd been five years, and my problems had yet to be solved.

Maybe the real world was like this, and the TV world was in a completely different universe. Bob the Builder always told me I could fix anything. I tried to fix Mommy and Daddy by hiding their candy; it didn't fix anything. Ben and Dana were out working, so Cooper had to take the brunt of my actions- it was the worst one in a while. I could hear the soft thumps and his groans even when I put my pillow over my head. I gave him some of my toy glasses later, even though he insisted he would be able to see once the swelling went down.

Everyone in kindergarten said I was smelly. They called me "Stinky" and wouldn't play with me. It wasn't my fault though! I didn't know how to work the taps and sometimes my older brothers were too busy to give me a bath. That, and I didn't have many clothes, and especially not any clean ones. Sometimes I just never went at all cuz those kids were so rotten and nasty. That, and I didn't like to leave poor little Penny alone all day. Mommy and Daddy were never home and Ben was at college and Dana and Cooper were at big school and she had no school to go to until next year. It made me sad how she'd cry when we left- made me cry, too.

Every once in a while, Mommy and Daddy would come home and their smiles would actually reach their eyes. They didn't look so tired and shaky and I loved them most like that. One time, they even took Penny and I to the zoo and were laughing and everything. I felt like I was on TV because I was just so unnaturally happy and not worried about anything, for one of the first times in my entire life; I could truly let ago and just be a kid, for at least a little while.

I remember Ben almost begging them not to take us. "Please," he begged. "Whatever this is, take me with you- not them!"

What was the big deal? The zoo was a place for fun, but he made it sound like we were about to go traipsing into battle.

Mommy put on this sugar sweet smile and grabbed my wrist with her claw-like nails. Penny was in Daddy's arms, looking confused and slightly scared at the fact that he was actually handling her gently.

"Now, Ben. Don't be ridiculous! You don't have time to go to the zoo because you have to work- you know how much we need your help around here," her syrupy voice seemed to drip over him in waves, ironically making him seem repulsed rather than reassured.

"And if I don't go to work? Who will pay the bills, then, huh?" he'd threatened. I didn't exactly know what was going on, but I knew he should definitely not be talking to Mommy that way. If past occurrences were anything to go by, my parents wouldn't hesitate to restrain him physically.

"And if you don't go to work?" she mocked. "Then kiss goodbye to the roof over your head and seeing your darling little siblings. Maybe we'll just put them to work instead!" My mother's laugh was like bells, tinkling light and silver, but Ben didn't miss the sinister undertone.