Enslaved Heart (A "No one lives" fan-fiction)

Parents

They drove on through the night and when at last the sun lazily drifted back into the sky neither of them had slept a wink and this was the sixth day since her escape. A lump of discomfort swelled in the root of her throat and Donna begrudgingly swallowed it glancing over at a bleary eyed Simon whose head would occasionally dip with the droop of his eyelids only to snap back up with a bewildered expression. He was exhausted they both were but stopping simply wasn't a choice so they drove on.

"So..." A meek voice perked up from the passenger seat causing her to turn her head.

"So..?"

"You never told me about your parents. I told you all about mine, do you think they miss you?"

In all actuality Donna hadn't considered them for a moment, her father passed before they could meet face to face and her mother was estranged from everyone. She was a tornado of a person, the apple truly didn't fall far from the tree. Eventually the destruction just became too much and no one desired to stick around, not even her own children.

"My father's dead, my mother.. Well we didn't speak much." She gruffly answered eyes locked on the road occasionally drifting upwards to read the passing signs.

"She's still your mom. She's gotta miss you." Simon tilted his head in an absolute innocence that sent a pang of pain through her heart.

"Not everyone's moms are great Simon. My mother may put on a show of missing me but she only misses me for the attention. All my life her children were a tool to rope men in and gather attention or sympathy. I sincerely doubt she truly cares and if she did it's in her own twisted narcissistic mindset."

There was a pause after that with Donna's lips thinly pressed together imagining her mother's face in that moment. Chopped short black hair with streaks of gray coming from the very roots and a freckled tanned face with round cheeks but a pointed chin. She was attractive as a teenager but age had sagged her skin leaving wrinkles around the eyes and forehead not in the graceful way as Sharla's had accrued, instead accenting her age and tacking on the years. Along with all of it was a pair of constantly narrowed penny brown eyes. They would follow you around a room and then the whisper would begin.. That damn whispering.

"What about your dad? What happened to him?"

"I never met him." Donna answered bluntly but in all truthfulness her eyes were already pricked with tears from the unfairness of it all. "He was locked up when I was only three and died in prison after a fight broke out. I have letters and older photos but that's it. I never had the perfect family life and loving parents like you Simon."

"....My parents fought a lot."

"What?"

"I think they were going to divorce but were trying to hide it from me." His hazel eyes were settled on  the road flickering with the passing objects but never falling on her, like he was avoiding it. "Sometimes at night I'd sit on the staircase after they tucked me in and listened to them argue about everything. Me, an affair, bills, I truly don't think they loved each other anymore but I forced them to stay together. I made them unhappy."

"We aren't at fault for our parents sins."

"We just.. Suffer under them right?" He choked out.

"Ya.. yes we do kiddo. It's not fair but that's life."

"Life sucks."

Donna snorted her fingers strumming against the steering wheel and gently leaning in to nudge him. The slight jostle caused him to jump a bit then dramatically flail against the car door crying out in mock pain but his anguished face quickly broke out into a wide mischievous smirk. Bouncing back from the door and shouldering her twice as hard, had she not been tensed for a rebuttal it could have been dangerous but instead he leapt off harmlessly letting out a jovial chuckle. She answered his laugh with a quiet giggle and they seemed to sink in this joy for a few seconds before Simon adopted an almost uncharacteristic serious expression.