"𝙇𝙄𝙇𝘼𝘾!" the girl's father bellowed from the living room as she stepped into their small house. The house was basically falling apart, and as she stepped closer to where the voice came from, the floors creaked beneath her feet.
"Yes?" she asked him quietly from the doorframe and waited for his response.
"Where were you at?" her father sneered at her as he sat up on the couch and stared at the girl. "You were supposed to be home a few hours ago, like I told you to be."
Lilac gulped. "I'm sorry."
"That's not an answer." He stood up and approached her, getting close to her. Close enough for her to smell the alcohol on his breath. "I asked where you were at."
"I-I was out with my friends," she stuttered, backing up into the doorframe. "I didn't know what time I was supposed to get home at."
"I told you to get home early!" he screamed into Lilac's face, getting only a few inches away from the now trembling girl.
"I tried to hurry home," she admitted softly.
"If you hurried, you would've been here earlier, now wouldn't you?" he spat into her face.
"Yes, sir. It won't happen again," Lilac whispered, shying away from her father.
"What was that?" he sneered.
"I said that it wouldn't happen again," she repeated, then screamed as the first hit came down upon her.

"𝙄𝙏 𝙄𝙎 𝙎𝙊 𝙐𝙉𝘽𝙀𝙇𝙄𝙀𝙑𝘼𝘽𝙇𝙔 𝙃𝙊𝙏 𝙊𝙐𝙏," Kie said from her spot on the couch out on the Chateau's porch. Pope sat beside her, John B across from them in a chair, and JJ stood, leaning against a wall.
"Agreed," Pope said.
"I don't get how Lilac can manage long sleeves in this kind of weather," John B said.
"I don't get how anyone can manage this temperature," JJ added, then took a swig of his beer.
"Well, it looks like it's about to rain, anyway. Maybe it'll cool it down." Pope was peering out the window, having twisted around in his spot to see outside. JJ came over to him and looked out, too.
"Yeah. It looks pretty bad out there," the blonde commented with a sigh.
"I should probably head home, then," Kie muttered, then threw up her hands in the air. "It wasn't even forecasted to rain today!"
"Nope," Pope sighed, then grabbed his bag off the floor. "I should leave, too. My dad probably wants me to get home and help with something."
"Alright. JJ, man, you staying?" John B asked.
"Nah." He shook his head. "My dad isn't even home right now, so I'm going to go get some time by myself or...something."
"Alright. Guess I'll be the lone Pogue, then." John B took a swig of his beer after laughing.
Eventually, they had all headed their separate directions towards their houses. Kie to the Figure Eight side of the island, Pope to see what his dad was working on, and JJ to be by himself at home. John B stayed at the Chateau by himself after they all had left.

"𝙄𝙏 𝘽𝙀𝙏𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙉𝙊𝙏 𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙋𝙀𝙉 𝘼𝙂𝘼𝙄𝙉!" Lilac's father screamed at her as she lay on the ground trembling. He stormed out of her room, then out of the house, as far as Lilac could tell by the door's slamming shortly followed by his old truck starting up and driving off. She quickly huddled up in the corner, leaning against the wall as she shook in pain and cried to herself.

"𝙄𝙉𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂," JJ mumbled to himself as he was walking home. The Chateau wasn't far from his place, so he always just walked.
     However, seeing as he walked along the road, he happened to see an old truck speeding down the empty street. He stayed off to the side as he watched the truck pass. Looking inside to see who the driver was, he quickly realized it was Lilac's father. Even from only seeing him at a distance one time, he was sure that it was him and knew from his red-rimmed eyes that nothing good was going on with him.
     Worry quickly flashed through JJ's head at the appearance of Lilac's father, and he immediately began to sprint towards her house.

"𝙇𝙄𝙇𝘼𝘾?" JJ shouted as he pounded on the front door to her house. "Lilac, open up!"
     Footsteps sounded through the house, accompanied by squeaks, as she hurried toward the door. Swinging it open quickly, Lilac saw JJ standing there with worry written across his face.
     "JJ? What's wrong?" She quickly pulled him inside of her house. "Did something happen with your dad or something?"
     "Did something happen with your dad?" JJ replied, looking over her for any signs of injury, but the girl just laughed.
     "JJ, what are you talking about?" she asked her friend quietly.
     "I just saw him speeding through town. His eyes were all bloodshot..." JJ trailed off before picking back up again. "Are you alright?"
     "Yeah. He was driving off just as I got here. Didn't see him speeding, though," Lilac said. JJ just sighed in disbelief and stepped back from her.
     "Alright. Well, it looked like it was about to start storming, so I'm going to get home and get some alone time, I guess." JJ looked at her again, waiting to see if she would admit to anything happening with her dad. "You sure that you are alright?"
     Lilac laughed again. "JJ, of course I'm alright. Just let me know if something happens with your dad or something whenever he gets home, alright?"
     The boy nodded. "Yeah, alright. Catch you later." With that, he walked out the door and continued his walk home.