The fire

1998
Time passed, in the Farrington household. The adults settled into new jobs and the children settled into school.



Finding friends proved to be a difficult task, but once Saraya was old enough to start school, Aria at least had someone to spend breaks with.

But one day, tragedy struck.



An electrical fire broke out, burning down the house. There was one casualty, and unfortunately for the kids, it wasn't one of the adults.



Saraya's injuries were life-changing. Recovery from the burns she sustained was long and painful.



In time, the family was rehoused by the local council. One advantage of this is that they were now spread over two bedrooms instead of one. More space in which to live, breathe and have the tiniest bit more privacy would reduce the conflict, one would think. But this was not to be.



Even worse than the injuries themselves was the adults' reactions to them. Olivia was disinterested as ever, while Tate and Sheri were downright hostile. Finding your own daughter repulsive for sustaining burns is far more ugly than the scars themselves, of course. But to a young girl, this was of no comfort.

One day, this came to a head.




'Is dinner not ready yet?'

'No, Tate. I haven't even started yet. I just haven't managed to get round to it.'

'That's not good enough! The least you could do is have my meal ready and waiting for me when I get home from work. God knows I've put enough effort in today. Why can't you?'



'I work too, you know! Why not have my dinner waiting for me for a change?'

'Because, genius, I get home later than you do. And you're the woman, not me.'

'Would it kill you to stick some food in the oven? Does having a penis somehow prevent you from doing that?'



'Oh, don't go all bra-burning feminist on me. It's the principle. You're designed for these things. Homemaking. It's part of your job role, regardless of what work you do outside of the home. It's what you agreed to.'

'And you agreed to give me an upper-class lifestyle, but you haven't stuck to that either, have you?'

'I'm doing my fucking best to provide for you! What happened was unexpected, but I'm trying to make up for all of that now. You aren't even trying to make this easier on me.'



'I'm not trying? I've been easing our financial burden with my work, and taking control over the home! You're only doing one of those things, purely because you think it's my destiny as a woman to want to do homemaking bullshit. Well, guess what? It isn't.'

'I wanted a wife, Sheri. You'd think I'd married a bloody man the way you carry on. If you were going to object to what that entailed, you shouldn't have signed up to be Mrs Farrington.'

'For Christ's sake. I did that before I realised what a relic you actually are. You could at least attempt to look at it from my perspective! Have you any idea what homemaking actually entails? I've had to deal with all manner of shit – booking appointments, grocery shopping, the list goes on! And I'd be a little more enthusiastic if the kids weren't such a pain in the backside.'



'Jeez, Mother, sorry for existing. Maybe you shouldn't have had us if you didn't wanna have to look after us.'



'Yeah? I bloody wish I hadn't! Wastes of space, the three of you. I don't know why I stick around; it's not like there's much reason to any more.'



'Well, don't look at me. It's not my fault you produced three defective children. All you had to do was stay at home and try to mould them into decent people. Must be something in your genes.'

'Excuse me, but it takes two to make a child! Maybe it's your genes!'



'You might have made us but that's all you did. The only person who ever acted like a parent was Uncle Edward!'



'Watch your fucking mouth, Aria. Evidently Saint Edward didn't do such a great job either. You being... you is not my fault. You should be bloody grateful for everything I've done for you, and that goes for your siblings too.'

'What am I meant to be grateful for? And hey, what's supposed to be wrong with us?! We're good kids!'



'Hmm, let's think. Your brother is a spineless wimp just like his uncle. You are a spoiled brat, and as for your sister... she's good for nothing now she's covered in ugly scars! We can't even marry her off now, because who'd ever look twice at that?'



*punch*

'Fuck off, you evil old bitch! Leave Saraya alone!'



'Jesus Christ, Aria!'



'Tate! Get her away from me right now, or I swear I'll do something I regret!'

'Aria, get up those stairs, now! What the hell is wrong with you?!'



'She shouldn't say things like that! Put me the fuck down!'

'No, you're going to your room! You're a Goddamn devil child, do you know that?!'

'Fuck you!'



'Stay in your room, don't leave, or you'll regret it. And you can forget about eating for the rest of the day, too. God, what did we ever do to deserve you?'

Later...



'Raya? Aww, what's the matter, love?'

'Aria's in trouble. Dad put her in her room and said she has to stay there and I'm not allowed to go up to her.'



'Huh? But it's your room too... What happened?'

'She hit Mum.'

'Oh God... Why did she do that?'



'Mum was being mean again... She said I'm good for nothing and she can't even marry me off now.'

'Awww, Raya... That's so not true. Come here.'



'Am I really that ugly?'

'Not in the slightest. You're the cutest kid I've ever met. Don't listen to anyone who says you're ugly.'

'The burns ruined me, didn't they? I'll never get married, will I?'



'No! They did not ruin you, I swear. Saraya, you'll grow up to be perfectly pretty. Trust me... And you're far too young to think about marriage. You don't even like boys yet.'

'Boys don't like me either.'

'They start to be more appealing once they're around my age. Before that, they can be pretty immature.'



'Do you like boys, then?'

'What? Oh, no, I didn't mean me...'

'Aria said you like boys.'



'Aria says a lot of things. She's quite the windup merchant! Hey, I'm going to go check on her. Bugger what Dad says – that's my room too, after all. What are you going to do?'

'I'll stay here a bit longer.'

'Alright then.'



'Hey. Are you okay?'

'Can you sneak me some food? I'm starving.'

'They're not letting you eat?'



'No. I hit Mum. But she had it coming.'

'I'm sure she did, but you still shouldn't hit people.'

'I know. It gets you into trouble.'



'No, because it's wrong. I'll bring you something to eat in a minute. I just wanted a word with you about telling tales.'

'What did I do?'

'You said to Raya that I like boys.'



'You do, though! You were looking at pictures of naked men on the computer-'

'Jesus, keep your voice down!'



'Oh... Oh God... whatever you thought you saw, you got it wrong. For the love of God, don't say anything like that around Dad...'

'Why?'

'Because... he really doesn't like men who like other men. And I don't, okay? I don't want him to think I'm like that.'



'Who even cares?'

'He does. A lot of people do. So don't give him the wrong idea.'

'Alright, fine. Not like I wanna talk to him anyway...'

'Good.'