I heard the car beep outside, and my lips immediately split in a smile. I had just finished coloring the teddy-bear in my new coloring book that Daddy had bought me and was excited to show it off. I had carefully torn the page out so it could go on the fridge and I heard him coming up the stairs. He opened the door and I held up the page excitedly.

“Look Daddy! Look what I col…” I sputtered to a stop when I saw the thunderclouds playing across his face.

“What…what’s wrong?” I asked, my voice barely a squeak.

“Corner. Now” was his reply. 

“But what did I…”

“Now” he cut me off. “On your knees, nose in the corner, and hands behind your head”.

I scrambled to comply. I wanted to ask what I had done but I figured I was in trouble for something and speaking without permission would probably make it worse.

Kneeling in the corner with butterflies in my tummy, I thought back on everything I had done that day, wondering where I went wrong. I had finished all my chores, my homework was done, dinner was on the stove, and I hadn’t sassed him all day. Not understanding what was going on only increased the uneasiness in my tummy. 

My hands were locked behind my head and my arms were beginning to shake from holding them up there. I knew better than to rest them against the wall though and I kept my position for what felt like an eternity. It was probably only a few more minutes though before I heard him call me.

“Come here little one, you’re in so much trouble”. 

I gratefully dropped my hands and was in the middle of standing up to come to him when he halted me.

“Crawl. You don’t deserve to walk tonight” he said, voice deceptively calm.

So I did. I lowered myself to my hands and knees and I crawled to where he sat at the edge of the bed, until I was kneeling between his legs. I sat back on my heels, hands flat on my thighs and stared at his shoes, unwilling to make eye contact. 

I heard him fidgeting with something and when I glanced up, I noticed it was a piece of mail. 

He began reading it aloud and it wasn’t very long before I realized it was a court summons. My court summons. I had gotten pulled over a few weeks ago for speeding. 75 in a 60 wasn’t that fast… Anyways, I had meant to pay it and no one would’ve known, but I had let it slip my mind. Apparently the court felt in necessary to remind me. Jerks. 

He used his finger under my chin to tilt my face up, and forced me to look into his eyes. A single tear slipped down and his face softened for an instant as he used the pad of his thumb to wipe it away. Just as quick as the tear disappeared though, so did his gentle demeanor.

“Go shower and brush your teeth, babygirl. Get ready for bed. You’re not going to want to do that after we’re done here” he said and this time more tears sprang to my eyes. I had fucked up. He dismissed me with a nod.

I disappeared into the bathroom as fast as I could, turning on the hot shower water and hoping it would calm down my racing heart. I was in trouble and I kept berating myself for not paying the stupid ticket right away. I knew it was more than just the speeding that had him so upset though. I had broken so many rules and knew this wasn’t going to be just a “couple of swats and off to bed” night. 

I had broken the rule to always be honest, lying about the ticket. Even though I hadn’t physically told him I didn’t get a ticket, a lie by omission was still a lie as he often reminded me. 

I had broken the safety rule, speeding was not safe for myself or others and we’ve already had that discussion before…which totally didn’t help my case tonight. 

And I had broken the rule of telling Daddy immediately when I broke a rule. Even though I thought that kind of tied in with the whole honesty thing, he kept them as separate rules- which meant breaking them was twice as much trouble. 

So overall…I was fucked.