Page 5 of Barbed Wire Fences
In that world, Barbie and Ken love Stacey like she’s the most important thing in the world. They never yell, never slam doors, never drink themselves into a rage. Stacey spends her days by the pool with her best friend, Skipper, giggling and floating in the sunshine without a single worry.
It’s very different from my real life. The one where my dad is passed out drunk on the couch often or worse, in one of his angry moods, ready to take a swing at anything that crosses his path, including me. And my mom? She’s either at work or pretending she doesn’t see what’s happening when she’s home.
And then there’s Rhett, the annoying neighbor my mom volunteered to babysit me when she’s not around. He’s the cherry on top of my nightmare sundae, always ready with a sarcastic comment or a smug smirk to remind me just how miserable life here can be.
It’s the antithesis of my fantasies. Barbies are the only thing that let me dream of something better. They let me create a life that feels light, fun, and full of love… a life that I wish I had.
But right now, even my escape feels ruined. The pink Barbie boat I managed to salvage from Charlotte is coated in slimy sludge and algae from the lake Rhett just tossed it in. I kneel by the water, scrubbing at the filmy green mess that’s seeped into every little corner of the boat’s special details. My throat tightens as I scrub harder, trying to save this last piece of my imaginary world from being tainted by the real one but there’s no use. It’s totally ruined. And just like the toy, so is my life.
Tears blur my vision, but I refuse to let them fall. Not in front of Rhett.
“Oh, cry about it, Jael,” Rhett taunts from behind me, his voice dripping with mockery. “Oh wait, you already are.”
That’s it. That’s the final straw. Before I can stop myself, I’m on my feet, gripping the boat like a weapon. Rage bubbles up in my chest, hot and unrelenting. I rear back and hurl the pink plastic boat at him with every ounce of strength that I can muster in my little arms.
It flies through the air like a baseball, propelled by my fury, and smacks him square in the forehead just below his hairline.
“What the fuck?” he shouts, stumbling backward in shock. Blood has already begun to drip down his face as I turn and sprint back to his mom’s trailer as quickly as my legs will take me.
“I’m going to burn your Barbie Dream House for this!” he yells after me. I don’t even have a Barbie Dream House, but his threat still makes me nervous that he’s going to ruin something else of mine.
“Not if I throw your stupid Gameboy in the lake first!” I yell back, sprinting even faster.
I know my legs are shorter, but for some crazy reason I’m convinced I can beat him to the screen door. For a moment, I feel the rush of victory as I sprint across the lawn, but it’s short-lived. Rhett catches up effortlessly, his longer strides closing the gap in seconds. His hands grip my waist, and before I can even yell, he lifts me clean off the ground like I weigh nothing and tosses me onto the patchy green grass in front of his mom’s trailer flat onto my back.
I hit the ground with a hardthud, and the wind instantly knocks right out of my lungs. For a few seconds, I can’t move, the sky spins above me, the clouds look like blurs as I gasp for air.
“Rhett Miller!” Ms. Miller’s sharp voice slices through the chaotic moment like a knife. “If you don’t take your hands off that little girl right this instance, I will whoop your ass!”
I’ve never heard Ms. Miller swear before. She’s usually calm and steady, the type of woman who speaks softly but somehow commands attention from everyone who she is around. She drags Rhett to church every Sunday morning to sit in the front pew, and though I tease him about it, I’m secretly jealous and wish she’d take me too. Not to learn something, of course, but to get away from the hell that’s usually my dad, hungover and angry after a night spent gambling. So, hearing her cuss for anyone to hear is downright chilling, like a warning shot in the sky.
Rhett lets go of me immediately, muttering under his breath about how I ruined his life as we both scramble to our feet, grass sticking to my elbows and his knees. My chest still feels tight from the fall, but I’m too mad to care.
“He threw my Barbie Dream Boat into the lake!” I scream in between huffs of air, pointing at him like I’m in court and he’s already guilty of first-degree murder.
“She threatened to throw my Gameboy in there!” Rhett shoots back, his voice rising as he jabs a finger at me in retaliation.
Ms. Miller sighs, pressing her hand to her forehead as if we’ve aged her a decade in the past five minutes. Her eyes move between us, and for a moment, I see something softer in her gaze, almost like sadness.
“I know y’all don’t see it right now,” she says, her voice steady but tinged with weariness, “but one day, you’ll realize you’re the only family you’ve got. Life is cruel, and there are enough people in this world who are going to try to beat you down and take your joy. Y’all gotta find a way to get along and have each other’s backs because one day, you’re going to need it.”
I cross my arms, still fuming as I glare at Rhett. He glares right back at me, his brown eyes practically shooting daggers.
Family? Him? Yeah, right. Even if my own family is a disaster that I want to escape, Rhett Miller will never, ever be family to me.
“Don’t. Touch. My. Gameboy,” Rhett growls softer now, jabbing each word into the air like a warning. He turns and stomps back toward the trailer, leaving me standing there with my fists clenched and my Dream Boat still drying off in the sun by the lake.
Ms. Miller doesn’t say another word. She just shakes her head and follows Rhett up the steps, holding the door open long enough to let me know that I’m supposed to follow them inside.
With a reluctant huff, I stomp after them, muttering under my breath as I wipe the grass from my knees.
This isn’t over. Not by a long shot. But for now, I have to let it slide, following him into the trailer like I have somewhere else I should be all the while knowing I don’t.
Chapter 3 – Jael
Present Day
Fourteen years later…
