Work Text:
"This isn't just about you. It's about what's best for all of us."
“I have heard that line my entire life and you know what? I’m sick of it. I’m sick of you telling me what’s best for the family has to be life. I’m sick of not being allowed to play sports and to actually be on the Academic team. I’m tired of doing what is best for this family.”
He knew it was the wrong words the moment he said them. For two years now she had started pushing back, started fighting back against all the things that Julia and Barbie did to keep them safe, and he had known this day was coming. He just wished he had more time.
“So you’re saying you don’t care about me and your mom? You don’t care about your sisters?”
Bright eyes narrowed as long, nimble fingers pushed back through hair that was naturally coppery read and now unnaturally shot through with pink.
“That’s low. Even for you,” she says, rolling her eyes.
“Even for me? What’s that supposed to me?”
“It means the school has google, even if you won’t let us have computers or smartphones without supervision. It means I looked you up way beyond the dome, Dad. So don’t try and play this family game with me. I get it. I get you love us, and you want to keep us safe but… But you might as well lock us under a dome. Trapping us in this place is no different,” she says, gesturing upwards with both hands to take in the entire expanse of the Overlook hotel that had been their home since Julia had been pregnant with the girl in front of him.
“You aren’t trapped. It’s just…”
“For our own safety,” she says, mimicking him with another roll of her eyes. “I’m done. I’m over this. I’m going to college, Dad, and you can’t stop me. Not unless you want to be like them.”
“Then go somewhere else! Anywhere but Husson University,” he said, staring at her, wide eyed and stunned. “Why the hell would you chose that, of all places?”
Anywhere but going back to Maine, after all.
“Because they offered me a scholarship? Because it’s anywhere but in Colorado?”
“It’s fucking Maine. You know what that place is.”
“I know you and Mom are afraid of Maine. I want to know why.”
“If you go back there, you could get us all killed.”
“Or I could save us all.”
“Linda, listen to me. If there is a way to fix all of this, to free us, it’s not in fucking Maine. Going back there means they’ll know where you are. This hotel that you hate so much? It has protected us for years. If you go back there, it can’t protect you.”
“I don’t want to be protected, Dad. I need to be free. I won’t ask for your help, and I won’t tell anyone where you are, where any of you are, but I won’t stay here dad. I won’t continue to be a bird in this gilded goddamn cage. I’m going to Maine, and I’m going to get answers.”
“And when you die?”
She stares at her father for the longest time, fairly trembling with frustration and fear. And then…
“Then cremate me and dump my ashes over the sea so that I’m still free.”
Anything that Barbie was going to say was cut off as she slammed the door, storming out into the snow and the cold that cocooned the hotel. She would come back. That night. The hotel would keep her safe so long as she’s on the grounds but after that? All bets were off, and that terrified Barbie.
And he isn’t sure there’s anything he can do for her. Not without risking the rest of his family. One or all.