5| Amidst Pain

As the car doors finally started to get slammed, Claudine jumped with each slamming sound she heard. The truth was that she was scared, quite scared. Janey, who rode shotgun with her husband, with Claudine sitting directly behind her, suddenly raised her eyes to catch Claudine's in the rearview mirror.

Their eyes locked for an instant, and it did nothing to lessen Claudine's mounting fear. If anything else, it had increased it because Janey had given her a malicious grin just before she looked away.

Ariella had been looking at Claudine's hair, comparing it to hers, and she had been feeling jealous until a plan had formed in her mind.

She suddenly piped up. "I do hate Claudine's hair, mom. Look at it; I'm pretty sure it's infested with lice too, don't you think so too?"

Janey turned her head backward to get a better view of the back seat. Claudine was glued to her side of the car with her tensed body tightly pressed against the car's right door while Ariella sat behind her father and her posture was quite relaxed. If one decided to compare the girls' hair color, her daughter's hair was blonde and tawny, while Claudine's hair was dark and lustrous. They were anything but alike, either in their body postures or their hair color and texture.

"Why, my dear. That's an excellent observation. The living conditions of that run-down orphanage are quite questionable" she turned to Claudine, "how many times a month did you wash your hair, dear?"

Claudine thought to herself that Mrs. Zaynader could be the kind of woman who would be killing you with her bare hands and still ask you, 'does that hurt, my dear?' She shook off the thought and prepared to answer, but Ariella cut in again.

"Are you trying to be rude to my mother right now? She's talking to you, dumb-witted girl. Stop moping and respond."

Claudine shakily replied. "We—I washed my hair at least three times every day during winter and every day during summertime."

"Liar!" thundered Ariella.

Matt, Ariella's father, casually turned his bullish head around at the sound of his daughter's raised voice, but instead of asking Ariella to tone it down, he glared at Claudine and said, "If you make my daughter mad one more time, believe me, girl, you won't like what I would do to you."

Ariella beamed as she heard her father threaten Claudine. That served the little bitch just right. Who did she think she was giving an answer that undermined her observation? Well, by the time she was done with her, she would know who was in charge.

Claudine retreated further into herself. Should she tell them to return her to the orphanage as she didn't want to go live with them any longer? But Matt had been driving for close to two hours now, and Claudine had the feeling that she'd get thrown out of the car and abandoned in the middle of nowhere if she ever opened her mouth to make such a request.

"No, I'm not lying," she told Ariella weakly while sneaking a glance at the back of Matt's head in fear.

Ariella whipped out an arm and struck Claudine hard across her face. "I called you a liar, and you dare not tell me otherwise," she told Claudine in a dangerous tone.

"Well done, dear," said Janey to her daughter. Her tone was so mild as if her daughter had brought back an award or a tangible gift of appreciation for herself from some organization and not that she had just struck an orphaned teenage girl.

"Girl sure had it coming. She seems quite the stubborn type", concurred Matt.

Claudine could feel the taste of the metallic blood on her tongue. She had not been expecting the slap when it came, so it made her cut the side of her tongue with her teeth when Ariella struck her across the face.

She felt her eyes brimming with tears; this wasn't what she had bargained for. She was a realist, alright, and she had known that, to some extent, she might receive some sort of backlash and maltreatment once in a while from her adoptive family. But she had never thought that it was going to be this way, not in a thousand years.

"Ari darling, be sure to cut her hair when we get home before she gives us all hair lice," continued her mother, who then turned to Claudine and admonished her. "And stop that sniffling, child! I can't stand it."

"I'm sorry, ma'am." Claudine's tone was soft.

"I sure will, mother," smiled Ariella in response as she showed off her crooked teeth, which she bared to Claudine.

"And I just had another brilliant idea!" Ariella said again as she bounced slightly in the car seat.

Claudine's tears suddenly dried up; she was already learning to dread Ariella's voice. Her excitement could only mean one thing to Claudine; terror, fear, panic, any of them would fit.

"I love your brilliant ideas…you have always been your mother's child", replied Janey lovingly to her daughter.

"The outhouse. We could leave her there for a week. I mean, if she could have hair lice—did I say if? We know she has hair lice but what of other germs and bacteria crawling on her body that we do not know about?"

Claudine could not believe her ears. An outhouse? Wasn't that like an external restroom that is built away from the main house, or was Ariella using it wrongly and not realizing it? Either way, the questions went through; Claudine only knew that she had gotten into big trouble by getting adopted by the Zaynaders.

"Ah-ha," exclaims Matt, "I do see what you mean." He took his hands off the wheel and drummed his fingers against it, letting go of it for just an instant but giving the car all the chance it needed to swerve off the road.

Ariella and her mum screamed in terror while Claudine opened her mouth in horror as she watched the car as if in slow-mo, hurtling downwards to collide with the back of a big tree. Claudine hastily started to say a prayer amidst Janey and Ariella's screams while Matt cursed his mechanic for not getting the damn wheel alignment checked out when he drove in there last week.