The Revelation

Start talking

At the NJC

Lisa's pov

So our plans to behave and not get in any trouble between graduation and the cruise kinda fell through, big time. Eleven days is a long time afterall. Julie and Stacey are currently grounded because they broke curfew on Monday by staying out too late at a party. Carrie got her phone taken away and earned herself an early bedtime for three days for neglecting her chores. And I, well let's just say, I am in major trouble for what I did last night at Suzanne's sleepover.

I walked into our room the next morning expecting to see one or more of my sisters, instead I saw Mike sitting on my bed, his head in his hands, his belt precariously placed right next to him on my comforter.

"Start talking," Mike said, lifting his head to look at me. When he saw my eyes scanning the room, he clarified, "Don't worry, we're alone. Shane is in the conference room spanking the insolence out of your sister."

"Which one?" I asked softly, knowing I was being nosy.

"Pick," Mike replied bluntly.

Yikes. That is most definitely not a good sign. Clearly, I chose a bad day to be in trouble as both our guardians were in a mood. They're always much more punitive when none of us are in their good graces.

"I'm waiting, young lady," Mike said, obviously annoyed my sisters and I were giving them so much grief at such an early hour.

"Mike," I spoke his name, as if it were a plea for mercy.

"Explain to me why I received a call from Suzanne's father this morning." Mike was clearly upset as his tone was ice cold.

I avoided his stern gaze while trying to muster up the courage to confess. I slept over at our friend Suzanne's last night with some other kids from school and you could say we got ourselves in a wee bit o' trouble. Obviously Suzanne's dad told him what we did last night but I knew Mike wanted to hear it from me. I'm eighteen for God's sake, but I'm still terrified of admitting my misbehavior to my guardians. No doubt about it, Mike still scares the Hell out of me when I'm facing his wrath and he probably always will.

When I remained silent, Mike repeated, "Start talking. I'm quickly losing my patience, Lisa Michelle." He reached over, repositioning his belt on my bed.

He was still eerily calm, despite being furious, a quality I always found to be extremely unnerving. The fact that his belt was already off and at the ready certainly didn't help matters. I took a deep breath. Well, here goes nothing.

"We were just playing a prank on this kid Jason that Suzanne used to like. We didn't mean for anything bad to happen." I kept my eyes glued to his belt to avoid having to face him directly.

"Oh, you didn't mean for anything bad to happen?" Mike picked up his belt as he stood to confront me. "But something bad did happen. Didn't it, Lisa?"

"Yes," I mumbled softly, looking at the floor.

"Speak up, I didn't hear you." Mike took a step closer and I took a step back.

All I could focus on was the leather belt he clutched tightly in his hand.

"YES, YES, OKAY! Something bad happened!" I yelled, as hot tears began welling in my eyes. I'm quickly realizing there's no way out of this. I'm going to get my butt beat, bad.

"Are you shouting at me?" Mike took another step closer.

"NO!" I yelled a little too loudly. When Mike gave me a death glare, I quickly amended my response. "I meant to say no sir, I'm not shouting at you," I said, much quieter this time.