Fractured from the Fall

Sisters are Forever

The only thing worse than being woken up at the crack of dawn by a rooster crowing was the taste of stale nicotine on Lily's lips. Now she remembered why she hated smoking. One cigarette made her feel like she'd been out drinking all night long. It was like having a hang over but without the fun of getting drunk, definitely not worth the price she had to pay.

Lily pulled the covers up over her head but she knew there was no point in trying to sleep in. Her dad had most likely already been up for at least an hour and he was big on never wasting a day by sleeping through half of it. Each day is gift, don't waste it, was just another one of his many sayings.

The hardwood floor was cold on Lily's bare feet as she stumbled out of bed. She forgot how chilly her father's house could get. It always drove her crazy when she was a teen. As a result, she was often found clomping around the house in her father's oversized slippers, that is until one day when she opened her bedroom door to find the quarterback for the football team standing next to her bed. His giggles at the site of her in her nightgown and father's old raggedy slippers embarrassed her enough to never wear them again. She figured freezing cold feet were better than dying of embarrassment.

Lily found her way to the bathroom with the aid of the early daylight which shone through the cracks in the shutters. She turned the shower on, cranking the water as hot as it would go. She remembered how crazy this used to drive Richard. He didn't understand how Lily could have the water so hot and for some reason he felt the need to point it out to her every time they were in their extravagant 300 square foot multi head shower. Showering together went from a hot and steamy affair to a painful criticism filled event in which Lily had to endure her plastic surgeon husband pointing out all the things on her body that he could lift or fix. Eventually Lily began showering when he was gone just to have a moment's peace. Her father's shower barely fit one person, but at least it was absent of critique.

She let the warm water run down her back soothing the pain that radiated from her upper body, no doubt from a night spent in her rickety old bed. She mentally scolded herself for leaving her toiletry bag in her room. Now she would have to resort to using whatever products her father happened to keep stocked in the bathroom. To her displeasure, but not surprise, she found a bottle of Pert Plus 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner which was probably purchased when she was still in high school. Not having much of a choice, she lathered up and quickly rinsed the green goop from her perfectly highlighted hair.

Stepping out of the shower, she stood in front of the mirror and was shocked to see the outline of a message written in the steam that covered the mirror. It was something her sister and she used to do, even when they were at odds with one another. She couldn't believe the remnants of one of their messages remained after all these years which was no doubt a result of the fact that the bathroom probably hadn't been cleaned in the last decade. She decided then that she should arranged for someone to come and clean her father's house. She could certainly afford it and it was the least she could do.

Lily brushed her long blonde hair and pulled it back into a low bun. She crept back to her room not wanting her father to see her in the tiny teenage-sized towel that barely covered her adult ass. Back in her room, she found her toiletry bag and sat at the vanity and applied light makeup. She thought back to the countless hours she had spent in that chair, covering up her youthful naturally dewy complexion, trying to perfect the makeup she had seen on models and celebrities in the magazines she kept stuffed under her bed. Violet always rolled her eyes at her sister's attempt to look like the famous faces she idolized. She didn't understand why Lily felt the need to alter her appearance. She was naturally beautiful, but she never really saw herself that way.

Her father shouted for her down the hall which she knew meant she had spent too long getting ready. As a man, he didn't understand why it took his girls more than five minutes to get dressed. She threw on a blouse and a pair of khaki pants with Chloe loafers and made her way into the kitchen. The smell of coffee wafted through the air. She always loved waking up to that smell. Her father made it strong and taught her to drink it black. It was one of the few "grown up" things he let her partake in. "It'll put hair on your chest" he'd say while playfully slapping his daughter on the back, jolting her upright. She never understood the saying but went along with it. He could say anything he wanted as long as she got to keep drinking that sweet dark brown nectar. There was no way she could make it through first period algebra without it.