[but she cuts off with a gasp, feeling it as he dives into her mind] What the hell are you--!? [she grabs her head with her hands; he's scared her now. she wasn't expecting this. but it's hard to concentrate as he begins to pull up her memories]
[a tiny girl, on her mother's lap, is reading a book with her guidance. she's frustrated but still enjoying it. she wants to know what's coming next in the story--!]
[and then she's on the sofa in her living room, craning her head to see into the kitchen as her mother has a hushed phone conversation about "that man." it skips ahead a little, and she's asking her mother where her daddy is. her mother's expression is dark and pained as she sits the little girl down with her and explains that she doesn't have one--that no man who refuses to see her or support her should be called that. that it's just the two of them, and that's okay. little Patricia is confused, but she nods, agreeing with her mother's words. no father, then. her mother hugs her, and she smiles, content]
[then she's a bit older--and terrified. she runs, diving into Mr Sterling's front bushes and clamps her hands over her ears against the sound of gunshots coming from down the street. as the little girl cries in fear, an unbidden tear runs down the face of her adult self. that's a day she remembers well. Menzies clutches her head in reality as pain runs through it at Gabriel's antics. with gritted teeth, she forces out:] Stop it!
["I'm going to be a policeman!" one more memory comes to mind; she's making the declaration to her mother. she's only 8, but yesterday Kristy's mother overdosed on drugs and wound up in the hospital, and Patricia has seen enough. maybe she has to run away from the danger now, but she won't always. one day, she'll stop things like this from happening to other people. she promises]
Stop it--now! [the cry is almost a growl through the emotions and the pounding in her head. he's made his point, and she doesn't appreciate it]
no subject
[but she cuts off with a gasp, feeling it as he dives into her mind] What the hell are you--!? [she grabs her head with her hands; he's scared her now. she wasn't expecting this. but it's hard to concentrate as he begins to pull up her memories]
[a tiny girl, on her mother's lap, is reading a book with her guidance. she's frustrated but still enjoying it. she wants to know what's coming next in the story--!]
[and then she's on the sofa in her living room, craning her head to see into the kitchen as her mother has a hushed phone conversation about "that man." it skips ahead a little, and she's asking her mother where her daddy is. her mother's expression is dark and pained as she sits the little girl down with her and explains that she doesn't have one--that no man who refuses to see her or support her should be called that. that it's just the two of them, and that's okay. little Patricia is confused, but she nods, agreeing with her mother's words. no father, then. her mother hugs her, and she smiles, content]
[then she's a bit older--and terrified. she runs, diving into Mr Sterling's front bushes and clamps her hands over her ears against the sound of gunshots coming from down the street. as the little girl cries in fear, an unbidden tear runs down the face of her adult self. that's a day she remembers well. Menzies clutches her head in reality as pain runs through it at Gabriel's antics. with gritted teeth, she forces out:] Stop it!
["I'm going to be a policeman!" one more memory comes to mind; she's making the declaration to her mother. she's only 8, but yesterday Kristy's mother overdosed on drugs and wound up in the hospital, and Patricia has seen enough. maybe she has to run away from the danger now, but she won't always. one day, she'll stop things like this from happening to other people. she promises]
Stop it--now! [the cry is almost a growl through the emotions and the pounding in her head. he's made his point, and she doesn't appreciate it]