Disaster Living Room

I’m telling you. It’s not every day I walk into my house and my living room is a pigsty. In fact, I don’t think I can tell you that I have. Most of the books I kept on the bookshelf had fell and scattered all the place. I wasn’t too sure how Kloshbet’s, my adopted daughter, copy of Handle With Care got stuck on top of the fridge. The 50’ TV that was formerly standing on the stand had fallen down face first. I sure hope that thing didn’t break- cost a lot. The furniture didn’t survive this “hurricane”, there even being one of the sofa cushions on top of the TV, some of my figurines and pictures had fallen- it was overall a mess. The sight astonished me, me almost spilling my latte on my purple and black flannel.

Taking a sip of the latte, I saw the little monster in the middle who had committed this atrocity- Kloshbet. Though, something seemed a bit off about her today. She was sitting on one of the cushions remaining on the poor sofa, sitting in fetal position. I’ve seen her pissed before- dealing with an adolescent, that’s to be expected. But the atmosphere in the room was more than just teen angst. Must’ve just came from school because she was still in her school clothes.

I asked, “Hey, kid. You okay?” I mean, she obviously wasn’t, but it was always a good idea to confirm my thoughts. No answer.

I tried once more. “Earth to Kloshbet…?” No answer.

I sighed a bit. She never really been like this towards me- she would usually answer by the second time. Taking another sip of the latte, I went over to her and tapped her shoulder. I tried to be a bit playful with her, which might’ve made her a bit mad. “Come on, Kloshbet. Don’t you have homework or something to do?”

No answer, again- not counting her faint breathing. Sighing a bit, I found it futile to keep persisting with her like this. Turning around, I started to head to my bedroom. On the way, I told her, “Well, if you’re just going to sit around, make sure the living room is clean when I finish bathing. I can’t stand it when there’s a mess.”

Turning back, she did as I expected. Her eyes and mine were locked. I expected her to look mad at me. Her eyes were red and tear marks were visible on her cheeks. Her eyes were still faintly watery, so it was obvious she just got done with crying.

Taking a sip of my latte, I walked over to the sulking girl. Kloshbet just sort of glared at me as I got closer to her. It was obvious that she didn’t want to talk, but if something troubled her to the point where she felt obliged to trash my living room, it was worth talking about. I waited to see if she would speak to me, sort of just glaring at me and wanting me to leave. Seeing as she wouldn’t, I went ahead and broke the silence. “So, now that I have your attention, mind telling me what’s up?”

There was another short silence before she looked away at me, sighing. Finally, she spoke. “It’s… nothing, Vent.”

“Nothing?” I exclaimed. It was most certainly something. The room we were standing in was proof. “Come on, Kloshbet. What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Vent…” What the hell was she hiding from me…? Kloshbet would usually break the ice no matter what, but even she seemed sort of reluctant.

I went to take a sip of my latte before realizing it was empty, throwing it in the trash in the kitchen. Over at the kitchen, I said, “Kid, you’ve got to speak to me. If there’s bothering you, you can always tell me. Don’t be like a soda bottle. If you hold in too much, you’re eventually going to explode!”

She looked at me, confused at my little analogy. “What? That’s not even how soda bottles work- listen, Vent. If you’re not going to take this seriously, maybe I won’t tell you.”

I put my hands up in a sign of defeat. “Alright, alright, I digress.” Going back over to her, I took a knee and held her hand, pressing it lightly. I showed her that I was going to be serious about this subject if she wanted me to. “What is it? I’m all ears.”

It took her a bit to build up the strength to actually tell me what was going on. Sighing a bit, she spoke. “I don’t know… it’s stupid. It’s just that one kid angered the hell out of me at school. He made fun of my anthropomorphic form. I wanted to break his nose so badly, but I knew you’d probably get mad if I did. It’s just a lot of things that make me angry I don’t talk about. I mean-” It seemed like she was at a loss of words.

I just don’t know if… you trust me like I trust you. I’ve been a burden sometimes, and it sort of scares me that you might just give up on me. Given the fact that you aren’t my actual father. Sorry if it just sounds stupid and rude…”

I nodded. I listened to every word of that. I felt what she was saying. It reminded me of the younger me, something I try not to reflect on nowadays. I don’t ever want her to be like younger me, and I don’t ever want her to feel the pain I felt of not having someone that cares.

After thinking of words to say, I spoke to her. “Kloshbet, what you just told me wasn’t stupid at all. I understand your fear of being neglected. I just want to let you know that there is no way in hell I will ever put you through a situation like that.

“I understand if you feel angry, Kloshbet. But there are things you mustn’t let get to you. If someone talks shit about you, they’re just going to talk shit. They don’t understand you for who you really are- a wonderful girl. Forget those who don’t understand the Kloshbet I’m talking about. You already have those who do, and I’m one of them. If no one else will, then I’ll care about you.”

Her sniffles started to come back. Those sniffles eventually started to become tears rolling down her cheek. Suddenly, she threw herself on me and gave me a bear hug that’d put bears to shame. It threw me the hell off, me losing a bit of breath. She was pretty damn strong, for sure. While giving me the hug of hugs, she exclaimed, “Thank you for saying you care, Vent…!”

I chuckled- or at least try to chuckle at her sudden outburst of gratitude. My hands eventually fell into place on her back, giving her a much softer and parental hug back. “Don’t count on it, kid.”

I looked around, seeing that the living room was still in chaos. “Sheesh. You did a number on the living room. That TV better not be broken.”

Kloshbet paused a bit, lifting her head up and looking around the living room. Only now it actually hit her about the murder scene she left of my living room. “Vent, I’m sorry! I just got carried away and-” Her tongue was twisting in trying to be apologetic. “-I’ll clean it the living room.”

“Oh, for fuck sakes, kid. Go do your homework and relax. You had a long day,” I interrupted. No way in hell she’d be able to clean this up while she was still stressed.

Kloshbet paused a bit before sighing. “Thanks, Vent.” She wiped some of her tears before going to her bedroom. It was obvious she was still stressed out… but I saw a smile on that face. It always lightened my day to see her happy.

Now where the hell do I even start with this disaster…