"We don't steal sunlight in this home, young lady".
So she had to weld the plate back on the donme. The plants will have to wait 'till they could pay the light bill. Just another bill, on top of what they're used to paying. "I can feel the heat" she said as She pressed her soft hands up against the metal panels. Her Father still made her weld the plate back on. It didn't suprise her though, he vehemently supported The Governments' Rule. She laid her head down on the shiny steel, and wiggled her toes playfully in the dead grass. She pulled at it, until her father stared, with a displeased look.
He was working on their old car, attempting to convert it to run on New-Fuel. Ever since The Government shut down production of petrol, they had been sending out free instuctional vouchers. It's a good thing they made it fairly easy, her Father wasn't good with mechanics.
She sat around, staring at the top of the dome, focusing on where all the panels met, focusing on the top. She zoned out for a few minutes, she felt as if she was looking past the structure, to the dark and fiery sky. She snapped out of it; her Father urged to go and play inside. She lumbered to her feet, and skipped on in.
Inside, her Mother was watching the news, and her Baby Brother was sitting in his crib. She went past them both, towards her room, but stopped in the bathroom. She flicked on the lights and looked at herself in the mirror. Her face illuminated by the overhead fluoresence made her white skin glow like an angel's. The Mirror was cracked in the corner. It was second hand, bought from a garage sale. They managed to grab it cheap, something to brighten up the bathroom, and having a new way to look at themselves other than the oven door. She looked at her hair in The Mirror, it was curly and brown, almost black. A mix of her parents. Her white skin was contrasted by the dark freckles that spotted her pronounced cheeks. Everyone in Her family had said she was cute, but "how cute can a fourteen year-old be" she thought. She wore a knitted sweater, despite it being late summer. Her Parents kept their home cold, they liked it that way. They were both from up North, and preferred it to be cold year-round. She wore dark blue jeans, that fit her suprisingly well. One of the legs was longer than the others, however. "They were on sale!" her mother had tried to explain. She pulled her shoulder-length hair back into a pony-tail, and fastened it with a hair-tie. She liked this sporty look, and giggled at the sight of her new appearance. It made her happy to have her hair pulled back like this, felt good.
She continued along to her room after flicking the light-switch off. Her room was painted pink. A testament to femininity, and childhood. It had a white trim, that surrounded the whole room, unlike other parts in their home. She had everything the way she liked it. Everything in order. It was a minimalist style of arranging things, but that was out of frugality. She didn't care. She loved the way it looked. It made her appear more grown up and astute. Her Mother had placed some freshly cleaned clothes on her dresser while she was out. To keep the order of her abode, she always, and promptly, put them away in her closet. "Five, six, seven, and eight" she counted out loud, making sure she ahd enough hangars to put up all the clothes her mother had given her. She hung them all and shut her closet door.
"Nothing...to do..." she groaned. There might have been "nothing to do", but there was always something to keep her busy; cooking with her Mother, tending to her Baby Brother. Just nothing she wanted to do. She missed playing outside in the warm sunlight, basking in its heavenly glory. Now that The Government had repossesed that, she had no other reason to go outside other than putting out the trash out and collecting the mail. She walked around her room a little, playing with the dolls on her bed and adjusting a few picture frames. She let loose a deep sigh, and sauntered on into teh living room. She slinked on to the couch and crashed down next to her Mother, who was still watching the news. "Bored?" she asked. "Ugh" she groaned, "yes". "Dad kicked you out of the garage?". She replied only with a broken nod. She sat with her legs crossed on the couch, drawing circles in the cloth cushion with her finger. The pleated fabric pleased touch as she added another spiral to her collection. "Well come here, honey" her mother said, her eyes glued to the television, but with open arms to comfort her daughter. She laid her head on her mother's breast as she closed her arms around her. Her Mother's warmth wrapped around her like a blanket. She loved her dearly. She kissed her Mother's wrist, the only appendage near her face. Her mother put her cold cheek on her forehead.
Just then her Baby Brother stirred from a nap. "Oh, damn" she said, and got up to tend to him. As her Mother stood up, her head fell to the couch. Her eyes stayed on the television set, the one luxury left in their house. The Newsman was talking about a local trend of missing animals. Her concentration was shot by a cry from her Brother. Her Mother left the room to console hime. She looked up at the ceiling and listened to the T.V chatter on. She felt like sitting in the warmth of her Mother's absence
Just then, her Mother shook her awake. "C'mon honey, it's time to eat". She aroes, sleepily, and walked to the dinner table, where her Father and Brother were already waiting. She pulled up her hands and clenched her fists while her Father said grace. "Holy Father who art in heaven, thank you for this food and this...", his words seemed to trailm off into the same generic thanks every night. "Amen", he concluded. She said the same shortly after her Mother. He could tell She wasn't paying attention. They sat there and ate the pasta her Mother had prepared while she was asleep. "So how's the car going Dad?" She asked, half-intereseted, only to break to the noise of forks on paper plates. "Oh, good! I've Almost finished". Not the short answer she was expecting. She felt he knew about her not paying attention during grace, He was religous, one could say. He loved to read The Bible every night to her Little Brother. He loved all religous texts, and read a majority of them. She felt that he only ridiculed them in his mind, though. Whenever she caught him reading the Qu'ran or The Torah, he smuggly laughed with childlike amusement. It upset her to see him do that, "inconsiderate", she thought. But being that he was her Father, he impressed upon her thye "beliefs and values of his household". She was never explicitly religous, and she felt he knew that, but she followed what he said for fear of dissapointment. She was tired though, and neglected to put up her act. It struck her after, and her pale cheeks filled with a red hue.
After dinner, she picked up their plates and placed them in the trash. "Hey sweety, why don't we go take the garbage out?". She looked in the bin; not even half full. She knew she was about to get a talking to. "Okay, Daddy" she replied, tying the strings and hauling it over her shoulder. Their Mother had returned to the couch with her Brother in her arms, softly cooing him to get him to sleep.
They walked over to the front door, and he opened it for. "That's my girl" he said warmly, as she walked in front of him, garbage bag on her shoulder like santa hauling presents to eager awaiting children. They continued down the path to where their dome ended. He tapped in the code to open the code on the keypad. "Why won't you let me know the password Daddy?" she asked, fake inqusitively. He didn't answer. She looked up bright-eyed, almost glassy. He was smiling in the falling Suns last rays of light.
"Why didn't you pay attention to me at grace?"
She stammered a little, and knew exactly what he was talking about.
"I didn't mean to Daddy, I just woke up, I was tired". She set the garbage down at her feet. Her father just looked up at the artificial sky and laughed. "I'm not looking for excuses, I don't want my pride and joy to lie to me either. I didn't raise you like that. Now, why didn't you pay attention to me at grace? Why didn't you keep up with me? Mommy and Brother did".
"I-I-I was tired Daddy, hones-"
He crouched down to her level and grabbed her by the shoulders, She was wide-eyed. "Baby, your stuttering, that means your lying to me". He lightly smacked her across the face. She began to cry. "I won't have my Daughter lie to me now". She let loose with tears, "Daddy!". She attempted to hug him, but his arms kept her back. "Now when my daughter doesn't want to lie to me, she can come back in, but in the mean time I'll leave you out here with the trash". He stood up and went back inside.
She stood there, shaking and crying. She sat on the garbage bag and blurted out, "I hate you Dad". She shifted her seat, and was poked by a broken something in the bag. She jumped up in pain and cried even harder. She felt hot, her face was on fire. The air was warm and muggy, it strangled her. It was a humid night. She sat back down on the pavement this time. and waited for the tears to stop. She wiped her running nose the sleeve of her sweater, only to get snot on the woven thing. She looked up at the clouds, covering the newly arisen Moon. She let out another wild cry, slamming her fists on the pavement.
She leaned her head up against the wooden mailbox post. Cars flooded past her little self, as she sat there, crying and waiting, into the night.