by Writing Shark

You inspect your newest daughter
“Mom, I’m home!” No one answers Elise Schoomer, but she’s used to that. It’s not that she hates her, but Elise has noticed since she was 20 that her mother is not a good example of parenting. She is so soft and always so kind, but as soon as Elise wants even one tiny bit freedom, her mother becomes a rage and forbids her everything from friends to boys to the things she has no idea about anyway, like kissing and groping and all that. Only Alice remains to Elise but also in the Winters family she notices that she is treated like a stranger. Except by Alice, of course, and that’s why Elise is angry again because her mom told her she had to go home right after school.
Now the girl looks in the living room and in the small, rundown kitchen, but finds no one. Otherwise her mom sits at the table or in front of the TV all day and tries to distract herself from something, surely her boring life.
“Mom!”
“We’re in your room, honey,” comes her mother’s muffled voice. Elise becomes angry.
“What are you doing in…” Then she pauses. We? Before she can process it she’s already opening the door to her room. Then she freezes.
“Hello, Elise.” She’s never seen a smile like that before.
“Mister Winters…” Only now does she realize that her best friend’s father is standing in her room. Stunned, she shakes her head. “What are you doing in my room?” But he doesn’t answer, instead flipping through one of the textbooks Elise purposely left at home so she could stay close to Alice at school. “Mom?” Her mother almost disappears behind the all-consuming presence of the man in the room. Amy looks small and helpless as she sits in a chair in the room with her thighs pressed together while Mister Winters moves around freely.
“You left your books at home” he states without answering the question.
“So what?” she asks defiantly, feeling a little intimidated. She knows from Alice that her father is not as easily manipulated as Mrs.Winters or her own mother.
“Alice told me that your grades leave something to be desired,” the man continues. “And that you’re using my daughter to cover up that deficiency.” Elise just stares at the man, feeling a chill in the room invade her body and take her over. Mister Winters radiates a cold energy that makes Elise feel small… and yet she realizes that his energy fills her with something she doesn’t know. She puts her hands in her pants pockets so he won’t notice the slight shaking.
“Nothing to it” she shrugs, but can’t look him in the eye. “And what are you doing in my room anyway?”
“I understand it must be hard for you” Elise is ignored again. Then his cold eyes meet her body and she freezes inside.
“What?” she asks, forgetting that she wants to be angry.
“Growing up without a father,” he says, and something in his gaze changes. Elise gets hot and cold at the same time. “Without guidance.”
“I’m my own boss,” the girl mutters defiantly. Usually she says it with energy but she can’t stand up to this man.
“I’ve heard that before.” Then he falls silent and looks at Amy who slumps under his gaze like a hunted deer. “But I don’t think you like it that way.”
“What…” But even if Elise believed in her independence at that moment, her throat tightens.
“Sit down.” Mister Winters nods toward the bed and Elise feels her legs start to move without her having to think about it. It’s intoxicating just to obey but the girl doesn’t understand that as she drops onto her old bed and looks at the man in front of her. For Elise, the feeling of submission is unfamiliar but still she responds like a good girl to the commanding voice of the man in the room. And as Mister Winters speaks, Elise listens more strained in that moment than she has in all her 20 years.
“It’s not your fault that your mother failed to raise you, Elise,” Mister Winters says. As he says this, Elise feels happy and safe. This rocks her world more than anything before. Mister Winters punches through her armor like a 2000-pound-bomb and effortlessly churns her up from the inside out. Then his gaze changes very briefly. “You should have had a father.” Then he turns stern again. “You’re naughty, sassy, and know-it-all.”
“Sorry,” Elise hears herself mutter. What’s the matter with her? She doesn’t want to be like Gemma or Alice. She’s strong. She doesn’t need anyone. And yet she warms as he nods contentedly, giving her approval, so effortlessly. Her mother never did that. But even if she doesn’t know the feeling in her gut, she likes it, and that’s why she apologizes. She knows that Mister Winters is a strict father, but she wants that feeling to stay and inside she knows what she has to do for that.
“Good girl” he praises her and Elise smiles, feeling that unknown feeling again. “I don’t think much of you Elise.” The girl nods. Of course she does. She’s not like Alice, and everyone knows her father adores her. And Elise feels a feeling she knows, and therefore suppresses. She also wants someone to be so proud of her. “And my daughter likes you.”
“I like your daughter too, Mister Winters,” Elise murmurs, fearing that the man sees through her and is angry with her. He doesn’t have to say anything for Elise to understand how her mother feels right now. Without a word, he has managed to make the girl distrust her own thoughts and seek his guidance. But Elise doesn’t understand that.
“Alice is a better girl than you, and I would prefer to forbid her to meet with you.” Again he is cold.
“I know,” Elise murmurs sadly. Then she lifts her gaze. “Thank you for allowing her to be my friend.” Mister Winters smiles and that makes Elise happy. And her mother looks incredibly relieved.
“But it can’t go on like this Elise.”
“I know.”
“No Elise, you don’t. You don’t know what I’m talking about.” Elise nods.
“Excuse me.”
“From now on, some things will change. You girls are 20 and I’ve already told Alice that her life is going to change.”
“Yes, Mister Winters.” But Elise doesn’t know what he means, of course. But she looks at him and realizes that she wants Mister Winters to change her life too. “I’d like to be like Alice.” And she’s not ashamed to admit what she’s known for a long time.
“That’s good. That makes me proud.” Elise smiles. “From now on, I will not stand in the way of you and Alice spending time together. I require that you check with me and ask my permission.”
“Of course Mister Winters,” Elise beams. She didn’t expect that. “Thank you!”
“And one more thing.” There’s that look again, a little warmer than the usual disdain he’s been eyeing her with so far. And a twinkle in his eyes like when a hawk has seen a little mouse in the grass. And like a little mouse, Elise is now trembling all over with excitement and nervousness as Mister Winters rules over her life. “From now on, you’ll meet at my house.” He looks around in disgust. “I don’t want my daughter playing in this dump.”
Elise can understand that Mister Winters wants to protect Alice. Otherwise, she would be angry at this man who just barged into her room. But now she’s just happy. And she is confused. She doesn’t know the feelings she feels, doesn’t know what she feels. And the feelings she knows she doesn’t associate with adults and certainly not with men.
As the front door closes behind Mister Winters, both Schoomer girls groan in relief and excitement. And Elise realizes that for the first time she feels awe, joy, affection and trust for a man. And something else. A feeling she doesn’t know, certainly not in this intensity.
A feeling she would love to disappear back into her room, under her covers and get to the bottom of.
“What the hell was that mom?” she asks her mother who is leaning against the wall with reddened cheeks and has closed her eyes longingly.
“The beginning of a new life for us honey,” she says dreamily, and nothing more.
And Elise goes back to her room, puts all her books in her backpack and looks to her desk where her unfinished homework lies.
She wants to get under her covers, because now she realizes that the feeling makes her vagina tingle. But she gets even cuddlier when she thinks that Alice might tell her father tomorrow that Elise did her homework alone.
It’s all so confusing, she thinks to herself, but then she has already opened her book and started to read. And her free hand is between her thighs, feeling the warmth of her crotch.