LJ Idol Season 8: Week 3; Coprolite

Macy curled up in her grandfathers lap with her favorite book as she did every single night since he came to live with them about a year before. Her parents were fighting in the kitchen, which was also a nightly occurrence these days.

“What are they fighting about grandpa?” She noticed he looked away from her when she asked that question. He never seemed to like to talk about why her parents started fighting ever since he moved in.

Tonight, she persisted. She wouldn’t let him read the book to her until he answered. She had to know why daddy was always screaming and mommy was always crying and scared.

“I’m just an old fossil and difficult to care for, dear,” Her grandpa smoothed a piece of hair from her forehead and looked into her dark almond shaped eyes. She had the same eyes as her dad. In fact, she was a spitting image of her father right down to her quiet, intuitive nature. “But everything will be okay, I promise.”

Macy didn’t think anything was going to be okay. She could hear her mother sobbing in the kitchen, trying to talk some sense into her dad.

“But he’s my father! I can’t do that to him,” her mother cried out desperately “I can’t put him in a nursing home, you know we can’t afford that anyway!”

Her dad just continued screaming at her mom, using words like “useless piece of shit” and talking about how they could barely care for themselves as it was.

Macy looked toward the door, frightened and a bit confused by it all, her little brain taking in the situation and trying to understand how this gentle old man who liked to read her stories and listen to her songs could cause any problems.

Grandpa quickly turned her attention back to the book in his hands though, “Once upon a time, in a land far away...”

Macy tried to focus on the story, but her mind went to much darker places as it often did these days. However, she felt safe in her grandpa’s arms and she trusted him when he said that everything would be okay. As she listened to his soothing voice, she fell asleep in his lap, forgetting all about the fighting and the screaming for the moment. She woke up briefly as her mom carried her up to bed before leaving for work. Mommy worked the night shift at the factory. Macy felt her mother kiss her on the forehead before walking out of her room. Macy didn’t like her mommy working nights. She didn’t get to spend as much time with her as she used to and she missed her. But her mommy said that it paid a quarter more an hour and had told her that since daddy lost his job and since grandpa was staying with them now, every penny mattered.

Macy fell back asleep quickly, dreaming of living in a castle with her grandpa and her mom, far away from all the yelling and the screaming that had become the norm these days.

At first, she wasn’t sure what woke her up. She thought it sounded like somebody running down the stairs but she wasn’t sure. She climbed out of bed carefully, scared, not knowing what it could have been. She didn’t really believe in monsters and ghosts anymore but she didn’t really know who or what could be hiding in the dark.

She slowly opened her door and peeked out into the hallway. She was relieved to see her daddy at the top of the stairs and not a monster or burglar and ran to him.

“Macy, go back to bed!” He yelled.

“But daddy... What happened?”

“Nothing, don’t worry about... Just go back to bed now!”

She noticed that he kept nervously looking down at the bottom of the stairs. When Macy tried looking over the railing, her father scooped her up and carried her into her bedroom. As she was being carried away she heard a low moaning drifting up from the floor below. It sounded like somebody was hurt.

“Daddy— ”

“Quiet, Macy.”

He placed her in bed and scolded her, telling her that she needed to stay there until morning or she would be spanked. He closed the door behind him and she listened to his footsteps moving quickly down the stairs. She heard some more noise, her daddy’s raised voice and then nothing else. Quiet set in and it was more eerie than anything she could have imagined though she couldn’t say why.

Sleep was hard to come by, so she was relieved when she heard her mom returning home from her shift at the factory. Her relief quickly vanished though when she heard her mom screaming.

“DAD!”

Macy, deciding to disobey her father, ran out of her room and to the head of the stairs. She stopped when she saw her grandpa lying on the floor below. She watched her mom leaning over her grandfather, crying and begging him to breathe as she called somebody on her cell phone. A pool of blood flowed from the back of his head and Macy was smart enough to know that was too much blood for things to be okay.

Macy was stunned. Was this what she’d heard last night? Did her daddy know that grandpa fell...? Why hadn’t he helped him or said something...? Did he...

She didn’t know what to do, and in that moment just wanted to run and hide under her blanket. She wanted to pretend she’d never gotten out of bed in the first place. She wanted to erase the memory of seeing her grandpa bloody and broken on the floor. She wanted to forget about seeing her father in the hallway last night. Macy just wanted everything to be okay and didn’t know how it ever could be again. She was considering running back to her room when her dad stepped up beside her, taking in the scene below calmly.

“What happened to grandpa, daddy?” She looked up at her dad with tears streaming down her cheeks. He never looked at her and never took his eyes off the scene below them. He didn’t make any move to help her mom, nor did he seem surprised at what lay at the bottom of the stairs.

“Honey, sometimes accidents happen when you get older.” He finally answered her after some thought. He turned a cold gaze onto Macy that bored straight into her. She knew that he was trying to intimidate her as he often did to her mom. Macy wasn’t having any of it though and didn’t flinch and never looked away.

“So what’s going to happen when you get old, daddy?”