Write by the Cards: Day One
Write by the Cards: Day One
A Place of Struggle
If you’re new to The Rebel MFA Way, welcome! This is my daily work for my Write by the Cards: 30 Day Challenge that I’m hosting. Learn more here. Scroll down to the end to see my behind-the-scenes commentary and source material. Note — this is an unedited, raw piece of work-in-progress.
Once, there was a character who felt trapped by {draw a card}.
“Okay, everyone, big smiles!” Rian’s mother trilled, her voice a syrupy sing-song just for the cameras.
Rian detected a slight annoyance in the lilt of her mother’s pronunciation like the emphasis on smilessss like a snake. That meant her mother was getting tired. And cranky.
“Judson, for pete’s sake, stop making those faces and just smile!” Her mother fussed, her tone growing faker.
Faker meant she wouldn’t be as nice when the cameras were off.
But Jud made Rian giggle. Her brother was forever making her parents mad with his antics. But he made the twins, Ivy and Fern, burst with adorable laughter. Even Rian had to admit it was cute.
The camera zoomed in on them then, and her parents cooed in the corner.
Rian shot Jud a smirk and a thumbs up.
Ivy and Fern, still giggling, caught the exchange and gave Jud two chubby thumbs up of their own, mimicking Rian.
Their tiny faces lit up, cheeks rosy with excitement as they wiggled in place and blubbered.
Her mother’s eyes narrowed, just a flicker of irritation, but it was enough to cut through the room. “Okay, enough fooling around! Fern, Ivy, hands down, and keep still. Rian, control them, please.”
The joy drained from the twins’ faces as they folded their hands into their laps, sitting up straighter, their little mouths turning serious. Jud rolled his eyes in response, but Rian caught the slight downturn of his lips—a hint of rebellion.
She wrapped her arm around Jud and whispered, “Just a few more and then we can make a scene.”
He smiled big and wide and Dad whooped. “Thatta boy. You’re looking like a grown man.”
Rian felt Jud tense up, trying to hold back an eye-roll.
Being only nine months younger than her, she always felt like she and Jud were also twins with the way they sometimes shared a brain. A thought. A heart.
She’d asked her parents once what an “Irish Twin” was and they chuckled and said, “where’d you learn that?”
“TonyMcPhony123 on Instagram,” Rian replied earnestly. The account has said, “Damn, irish twins and actual twins… that’s a shit draw, man.”
Her mother’s mouth pinched tight but her father burst out in laughter.
“It means your mom used to be really horny.”
Eww. Rian didn’t want to think about her parents like that. Preferably, she wished she didn’t have to think about them at all.
“You push four kids out of your vagina and then tell me how horny you are.”
Her father rolled his eyes and they moved on. She didn’t feel like they answered her question but Rian liked the idea of her and Jud being twins even if it wasn’t true.
“Rian, look at the camera, darling,” her mother brought her back to the moment.
Rian forced a grin, one she knew from experience wouldn’t look too fake on camera. She’d mastered the art of the Instagram smile by now—a smile that said she was a happy, wholesome daughter from a perfect family. She could hold that smile until her cheeks hurt.
After thirty more minutes of Hell in the form of a photoshoot, the camera lights clicked off. The cameras recording their every move stopped blinking and her mother’s face fell, the warm smile vanishing as if it had never been there. “Rian, take the twins up for a nap,” she said, her voice clipped, all sugar gone. “Your father and I have to get ready for a… business meeting tonight.”
Business meeting. The word was a joke by now, a flimsy excuse her parents used whenever they had some fancy dinner or event to attend. They always framed it like some selfless sacrifice, something they were doing “for the family” while they left Rian behind to play parent.
Without another word, her parents drifted out of the room, their minds already somewhere else. The door clicked shut, leaving Rian standing in the silent, spotless living room, her siblings staring up at her, waiting for her to tell them what to do.
She sighed and picked up Ivy while Jud reached for Fern.
“Time for a nap,” Rian told the twins, her voice calm but not sugary like her mothers.
Once the twins were down, she slipped into Jud’s room. “Whatcha doing?”
He held up one of his coveted comic books.
“Movie night?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Popcorn?”
Rian grinned. “Duh. It’s our last pack, though.”
He nodded and went back to his comic and Rian closed the door and left him to his own devices.
She checked on the twins and then retreated to her own room.
Her sanctuary. The only place (most of the time) she was left alone.
The only place in the entire home where cameras weren’t installed. Yet.
She wouldn’t put it past her parents to go that far, though.
Hours later, her mother burst through her door, her expression concerned.
“What’s wrong?”
Her mother pointed to her necklace. “Hurry, clasp this for me. Your father is taking a very important call at the moment and we’re already late for our dinner meeting.”
As she fumbled with the small clasp on her mother’s delicate necklace, she felt a tinge of jealousy creep in. Why did they get to go have all the fun while Rian and her siblings did most of the work. Why didn’t they want to stay home and play board games or bake cookies like the families on the reality shows her mother pretended she didn’t watch.
“There,” Rian said.
Her mother blew out a breath. “Thank you, sweetie.”
She took a step back and faced Rian. “How do I look?”
Her mother was beautiful with golden curls cascading and framing her face. She had on a light blue gown that made her skin look dewy. Almost sparkly. She wanted to reach out and touch her mother’s flesh. To see if a bit of the sparkle would rub off on her.
But she resisted.
“You look beautiful, Mommy.”
She knew she was too old for that pet name but she also knew her mother missed her saying it.
Her mother’s face softened, for only a second, and then her father rushed in. “Are you ready yet, Stella?”
“I was waiting on you, Jeff,” she said, her voice laced with annoyance as she stomped out of the room.
Before she went down the stairs she called out to Rian.
“Twins have been fed, so you don’t need to worry about that. Just put them to bed at the normal time. And please, don’t stay up too late.”
Rian smiled sweetly and nodded.
“Good girl,” her mother said and kissed the top of her head.
And then they were gone.
After she and Jud put the twins down for the night, thankfully without a fight, Jud collapsed next to her on the couch, snatching up the remote.
Rian went to the kitchen to prepare the popcorn, delighting in the buttery smell wafting from the microwave.
Her parents wouldn’t allow them to keep “junk food” in the kitchen in case a camera picked it up.
“We pride ourselves on healthy and all natural food for our children,” her mother’s voice echoed in her head.
What she didn’t tell their viewers is that most of their food came in a big cardboard box that her parents disassembled into containers. They pretended as if they’d just gotten back from the grocery store.
“Organic green beans, carrots and lettuce,” her mother showed the containers to the camera. “Only the best for my babies.”
Rian salted the popcorn and sat on the opposite side of the couch.
“Home Alone?” Jud asked.
Rian nodded. See, he always knew what she needed.
Home Alone, was their ritual movie for nights like these. Kevin’s antics, his clever pranks and traps, always made her laugh, made all of them laugh, even her parents. They’d seen it a hundred times.
Tonight, though, as she watched Kevin take on the intruders, something felt different.
She understood, acutely, why Kevin wished his parents away. He felt trapped. Like she did.
The movie flickered in front of them, Kevin’s traps sparking an idea in her mind. What if they didn’t have to play along with this charade anymore? A small, fiery defiance lit up inside her, like a match striking against her anger. She glanced at her brother, wondering what he would think of her idea, a sly smile tugging at her mouth.
Maybe it was time for the world to see what their “perfect” family was really like.
Let the games begin.
Behind-the-Scenes Commentary
I had a few starting premise ideas for this challenge but it wasn’t until I watched a video of Shari Franke talking about the insanity that is child influencers that it really solidified in my mind.
Ironically, I was also in the middle of a really damn good book about a sociopathic child. Baby Teeth was exceptional reading and it taught me a lot — specifically that I wanted to go a different direction with my young narrator. While the idea of crafting a devious, young budding psychopath was an exciting idea, I wanted to craft a main character that could be any real child influencer. Perhaps a cautionary tale of sorts.
Then when I pulled the “Bitch-Fire” card I was just elated. How freaking perfect. My character isn’t a psycho… she’s just really pissed off.
She reminded a bit of Kevin McCallister from Home Alone and when that thought came to mind, I knew I had to use it a fuel for Rian’s bitch-fire idea.
I tried to keep it pretty simple in this scene, knowing that I have 29 more days of producing material, but I am excited to see where this goes.