Did I remember anything from last night? Not after the first couple drinks. Could I feel the effects of last night? With every heartbeat it felt like a hammer and chisel were being driven into my skull. So yes, I could very much feel the effects of last night. When I opened my eyes, I moaned as the light made my head pound even harder. My mouth felt like a desert too, and I just wanted to die already.

I squinted and looked around. I was in my room now, and with a glass of water beside me too, and still in my clothes I went out in. Groaning, I realized what must’ve happened to be here right now. I reached over on my side table and grabbed my sunglasses to make the light a bit more tolerable. 

“Hey, you,” said Dad at the foot of my bed. I was kind of surprised that he had time away from work to be with me. I wonder how long he’s been sitting there. “Glad you’re up. It’s only noon.”

“Dad…” I mumbled.

“Hey, drink some water.”

“What happened?”

“Your friend explained it to us, Maria. That you and your friend Cadence were drinking last night, and you got drunk. Bella and Maria had to take you home, and Diane left at about 8 or 9 to take her home. She hasn’t come back yet.”

“Oh… Maria was here?” I asked, a strange feeling in my chest. I guessed it was probably from the hangover.

“Yeah, she stayed for as long as she could,” explained Dad. “She didn’t want to separate from you, but Diane wanted to take her home before her mother went around looking for where her daughter was.”

“Huh.” Well wasn’t that just something? “Wait… isn’t it a school day?”

“Don’t worry,” he said calmly. “You’re taking today off.”

My brain was a bit fuzzy, I’m not going to lie. It was kind of like looking at life through like, a really bad pair of prescription glasses or something. I could only just nod at whatever Dad was saying like I was really paying attention. Though, I’m pretty sure that Dad knew where my mind was, and he understood. Didn’t stop him from keeping up the talk though.

“So do you want to tell me what didn’t connect when I told you to be safe the other night?” he asked, unamused.

“It was a judgment lapse,” I groaned, sitting up. “I didn’t mean to do anything stupid.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you did,” he continued. “I thought you could be responsible for something I could’ve said to never do again.”

“What do you mean?! You nailed my window shut?”

“Well, your mother nailed your window shut.”

“Like there’s a difference.” I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

“The point is that you’re not going out at night anymore,” he said firmly.

“What?!” I exclaimed. “No way! You can’t just-”

“Actually I can,” he interjected. “I am your father, and if I think this life is too dangerous or harmful to you, it’s your job to trust me and do what I ask.”

“Oh really?” I asked condescendingly. “Did that work on Ben’s problems?”

“I don’t think you understand,” he said seriously. “The other night you were going to go out without Ben at first, right?” I nodded my head. “So let’s say you left and Ben was on his own. He could’ve purged all he wanted and you wouldn’t have been there.”

“You can’t blame that on me!” I countered. “That’s Ben’s choice! Whether I’m here or not, he tries it!”

“But when you sneak out at night, you’re placing those friends above your brother. Above your own family.” I hated how calmly he said it all.

“I don’t do that!” I said, raising my voice. It hurt my head, but I didn’t care. “I love my family just as much as you do!”

“Sophie, you sure don’t show it.” he snapped.

“If you care then do something! Right now, get angry and put your foot down at me! Or do you really not care enough to actually do anything to help anyone?!”

“Fine!” he barked. Well… I did ask for him to get mad. He stood up and started to walk out. “I see you don’t actually care about what you did. So just know if you sneak out of that window again, you might as well live at your friends’ houses and not come back!”

After that, he slammed the door and made my headache pulsate again. I groaned and got up. He was not getting the last word on me like that. I finally got him riled up and he just walked out on me. Nuh uh, I’m going to continue this conversation even if my head implodes on itself from the pain.

I stumbled out into the hall and shuffled down the hall, but paused. Inside Dad’s office I heard some kind of whimpering. No, it was crying. I peeked in just enough so he couldn’t see me, and I saw Dad crying his eyes out over his desk and mumbling some things about his own mother. Guilt washed over me as I realized that I had pushed him over an edge that he tried hard not to cross. I knew that Grandma Emilia did some bad things to him when he was young, and made him uncomfortable still to this day, but I didn’t know the specifics. I just knew it was a lot to do with her anger. Feeling like an absolute bitch, I sulked back to my room and face planted into my bed.

“Sophie… how did you turn into the bitch you hate so fast…?” I asked myself as I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. It was easier than staying awake with the guilt.

*   *   *   *   *

I woke up to someone tugging on my clothes a few hours later. I opened my eyes to Ben standing in front of me. He was holding something in his hands, but my newly-awoken eyes were still blurry and couldn’t quite make it out. I think it was some book.

“Oh, hey, Ben…” I mumbled. I figured that he probably went to school. “How was today?”

Silently, he placed the thing on my side table and walked out. That’s my brother for you. A real chatterbox. I sat up and grabbed whatever he put there. It was another one of his homemade comics, but it didn’t really look finished. The panels inside were sketches but not colored, with the front cover being the only colored picture.

The title across the front read “Lady Rebel”, just like his others. The picture was her sitting on a bench on her own, back turned, and a pair of those gloves beside her. Along the bottom it read “Does She Stop For Good?” I made a quiet groan of mental pain. Dammit Ben, why do you choose to do these things to me? I didn’t ask for emotional blows today. I opened the book anyway and started reading the first page. 

Man, I was right about getting emotional blows. The comic followed Lady Rebel finding new friends and abandoning being a hero to hang with them instead. Real subtle, Ben. There was even a scene of her turning away when Bulimion and Anorexus were hurting people in the streets. She’d thrown away her costume and everything.

The comic ended with Lady Rebel saying she was done saving people, and wanted to live a normal life instead, without the responsibilities forced on her before. When I got to the end, I put the thing down and stared up at the ceiling. Wow, three issues and I was canceled for another run. That’s got to be a new record in the world of comics, right? 

It was like, one or two o’clock, but I didn’t really care anymore. I still felt like garbage, and didn’t want to be awake anymore. Feeling like a sack of guilt didn’t do much for your mood, it turned out. For good measure, I went over and locked my door so nobody would wake me up; Mom could easily pick the lock, but whatever. I just buried my head under pillows and blankets before I could think any more.