The Glasses

Alice had grown up in a sheltered household her entire life. She hated the lifestyle forced on her by her parents, but her parents thought otherwise. Her parents had made her wear an abhorrent set of glasses for years, possibly ever since she could see. She was raised to believe that if she ever took off the glasses, a large, winged beast would come and take her away forever. She was only ten, made to deal with the thought of death if she even considered removing the glasses she despised so much. It was a simple Saturday, possibly in June. But how would Alice know? Her room had no windows.

She lived at a set temperature, attitude, set way of thinking. She was indifferent to it after years of this life. Anyway, the night in question was dreary, as if made to fit Alice in like a puzzle piece in her already drab existence. She looked at the glasses she hated so much in the mirror. Staring into her own blue eyes, a shade of blue only cornflowers would know, she saw the thick lenses she hated with a passion. The hot pink frame that held the horrid lenses in place, she hated pink. THEY knew she hated pink. The people she lived with. Vanessa and Martin. Why give her parents the courtesy of the word neither deserved?

She looked at her mirror and looked deeper at the person who could've been. A vibrant, free young woman, with golden brown locks that always seemed to fall in front of her piercing green eyes. The spitting image of Martin Holdsmith. The moment that thought raced into her mind's view, with one mighty swing, she smashed the mirror and the thought that she looked anything like her oppressors. She didn't stop there. She continued until her room resembled a war zone's distant nightmare. She started to cry uncontrollably as she did this. Angry, red hot tears streamed down her face as she snatched those glasses from her dull green eyes. THOSE. GLASSES. They did this. She could stop it. So, her next movement left hot pink bits and thick shrapnel of lenses over the hardwood floors.

Almost instantly after the deed was done, a knock came at the door. "Honey? Are you okay in there? I heard some crashing from the kitchen.", her mother calmly asked as she tried to open the door. Alice smirked. She prepared in case this happened. Her smirk, however, disappeared immediately as the door opened with a ker-chunk and a small creaking noise. Alice glowered at the approaching figure. Of course, she would. Why wouldn't she be able to get in to make it worse? Alice thought to herself. Vanessa Holdsmith looked down at her daughter, in toil on the floor. Her angel. The baby she raised for her sister after a horrific drink of 1 parts tragedy, 2 parts madness left her sister's precious angel an orphan in less than six seconds. But she didn't need to know that, did she?

Alice looked down at Vanessa's feet and saw something she hadn't seen before, at least from not from someone else. Tears began to line the boards of Alice's small room. She looked up at her mother and mother looked down at her daughter. The two watched as the other became less and less visibly strong. Vanessa was silently crying and Alice was on the brink of tears once more. The two just sat across from each other, like two generals that realized their horrible crimes against the civilians. They watched each other cry, Vanessa's makeup becoming mear smears after the two were done crying. Afterwards, mother and daughter looked at each like Mother and Daughter for the first time in a long, long, long, long time. "If only I'd have known, baby.", said Vanessa. Vanessa now cradled the human she'd raised since so long ago. "We were both acting dumb. Me more than you, but still.", said Alice, getting choked up with aftermath tears as she spoke.

The warmth of the moment was calming. Vanessa got up, wished Alice a good night's sleep, and went to her own. But before Vanessa did, she closed the door before she left the room. Alice heard a ker-chunk as she wondered what she was up to. "Honey,", Vanessa began, "tell me." Alice was looking at her feet when she heard the sound of a set of leathery and large wings unfurled behind her. Alice froze but didn't turn around. Alice's warm disposition faded instantly as Vanessa said coldly, "Honey, what happened to your glasses?"