NaNo Prep Contest Round Two

Megan watched, as the smashed bottle pierced her father’s throat. Watched the glass fall to the floor, so slowly, as her mother let go it, realizing what she’d done. Megan focused on the glass, so that she did not see her father fall. She focused on the sound it made as it shattered, that high, clear note, so that she didn’t hear the screams. It worked. She didn’t hear anything but shattering glass. Not the screams, or the sirens, or the questions, or her thoughts.
She sat, first in the policeman’s car, then in the diner where he bought her a hot chocolate and spoke at her, then on the bed in the house they brought her to for the night. It was only when she was alone, that the breaking glass began to fade and she started to process what had happened.
Her mother had killed her dad. Why? That’s what they’d all ask, maybe they already had asked, when she couldn’t hear them.
Well. Her dad spent all their money on alcohol. Sometimes he said lewd things, and kissed her mom when she was mad at him. Sometimes he said cruel things to the two of them. Sometimes, when he was very drunk, he went further than words. Okay, so those were all very good reasons to kill him. But in a planned way, not suddenly, practically accidentally. Maybe that was it. Maybe it had been an unintentional thing. Yeah, that made sense.
The screaming, there had been screaming she thought. Unplanned then. But… Hm. weren't longer prison sentences given if it was premeditated?
Megan brought her hands up, in front of her face, and looked at them. They were calloused, and dirty. The hydro hadn’t been paid for a few months, so they’d shut it off, and her mother had hit her, saying it was her daily showers that did it.
Her mother had never needed alcohol to go further than words. Her mother had blamed her for every tiny thing. Her mother had decided to marry a man with no skills that good give him a high-paying job. Her mother had given her a life with no money, no friends, no happiness. No power.
Foster care wasn’t ideal, obviously. But she’d watched as the glass entered her father’s throat. Her mother had killed her father, and as far as Megan knew, they didn’t have any relatives or friends who would be willing to take her in. Foster care wasn’t ideal, but it was inevitable.
So, what if it hadn’t been an accident, or adrenaline? What if she’d thought it out? Planned ahead? And she would be punished, and kept away from Megan for longer. And Megan would be free. She found herself smiling.