Work Text:
July 1, 2003
10 years before Chapter 1
“What’d I say about using the oven while I’m not home, Candace?” he screamed with whiskey on his breath.
“Since you weren’t home yet, I made dinner for Phineas, Isabella, and I, as it was already eight o’clock and you’d never shown up ‘till about fifteen minutes ago doing whatever.”
“I provide for this household with my own salary, so I should determine when and what you guys eat!” he screamed at me. “If there’s nothing else to eat, there’s always Phineas’s little meat brick lying upstairs wasting my money,” he said sternly. “Phineas! Would you mind bringing your little friend down here?”
“Comin’, dad!” I heard five-year-old-Phineas shout.
“Dad, don’t bring them into this. I was just doing my duty as a babysitter. Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro wouldn’t let me hear the end of it, learning her own daughter was being starved.” She continued to hesitate. “Plus, she won’t be home for another week.”
“Where is she and what’s so important that Isabella’s over here wasting my money?” he rudely asked.
“She got called down to El Paso because of a family emergency. I don’t know much about the details. She only said she had to go and for me to watch Isabella.”
“I don’t give a damn that his little girlfriend is over here. I’m more concerned that the brats I was going to fire up are suddenly missing.”
“Hey daddy, what’s up?” I hear Phineas asking innocently.
“Phineas, get away from him. Come over here.” I pleaded with him.
“Phineas, I have a question for you. Did you and Candace eat those brats or not?” he threateningly questioned.
“Dad? Why are you staring at me like that?” Phineas asked. In an almost heartbreaking scene, I see Phineas’s eyes widen, knowing something’s up. “Daddy?” he asked, slightly scared.
“Isabella. How are you? I almost didn’t see you there.” he said a little menacingly.
“Hi Mr. Flynn.” she greeted, standing behind my little brother. Mr. Flynn took a few steps towards them, only for them to continue stepping backwards, and eventually hiding behind me. A deafening silence ensued. I could feel Phineas gripping my leg, and tension building ever higher as he continued getting near.
“Candace, could you please get out of the way. I just want to have a few words with my son.” he had the nerve to say.
“I-I don’t th-think I will.” I replied back.
“Candace.” he threatened, his voice rising, “I told you to move. So do it!”
“N-no.”
“When I say move, MOVE!” He pushed me to the side, slamming my back into a bookshelf. I struggled to get up, my vision starting to blur as I saw a figure get close to the two younger children.
“D-a-ad!” I exclaimed as Phineas was knocked to the ground with a belt (seemingly pulled out nowhere in particular,) him quivering in fear. I saw him get back up, with a wound on his leg.
“Dad! Don’t, not on them!” I scream, but to no avail.
“You always were a worthless brat Candace!” he howled. “You and Phineas think you two are so above and beyond in this world that you guys leech off of me. It's about time you guys started doing some actual shit around here.” he says as I get up, teary-eyed and breathing pantically.
“Like what, a punching bag?!” I hear Phineas say weakly.
“I was thinking of something else, but I guess that works too. There, now you’ve gotta use ‘round here.” he muttered. “Now, what about you Candace?”
“I already have my keep. Protecting him.” I shout, scooping the two youngsters in my arms and running into my bedroom, profusely locking the door. “Phin, are you okay? I reply weakly as I see him clenching his left forearm.
“Yea, but I guess my lef’ arm’s out of commission” he replied, with his tongue bitten. A few distant noises could be heard in the stairwell, and eventually in Phineas’ room across the hall.
“Isabella, I want you to go into my bathroom and grab anything you can find. Bandages, gauzes, cotton swabs, anything! I’m going to try to sneak into Phin’s room to grab a few clean pairs of clothes.”
“Where are you taking us?” Isabella asked
“Anywhere but here.” I frantically replied. Isabella went into the bathroom, whereas I snuck across the hall into Phineas’s and my heart dropped as soon as I saw a silhouette on the bed. “Perry? Is that you? Please chatter if something’s wrong.” The small platypus gave a weak chatter. I walked over to my little brother’s bed, noticing the semi-aquatic mammal had a lot of bruises and welts across his body. “Oh, Perry. Not you too.” I exclaim, saddened, knowing my brother’s pet is roped into this. I scoop up Perry in my arms and walk over to his dresser, pulling a few shirts, pants, and socks. That should do for the week. Now the hard part.
“Phineas! Candace! Get you useless asses down here!” my father shouts from downstairs. Not gonna happen anytime soon, I keep telling myself. My rational side keeps telling me to hide with the kids in my bedroom, but he would ultimately break the lock eventually, as he has done before. I open the door to the hallway and sprint across the hallway with a backpack, some of Phineas’s books, and Perry in my hands. “C’mon guys, this is gonna be the hardest… but can you balance on a tree branch?”
“There’s a ladder in my closet.” I hear Phineas say before I tell Isabella to leap.
“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” I accidentally snapped at him. I could just see him tense and tear up, with me holding a hand over my mouth. With regret, I ran toward him, nearly tackling him in a bear hug, “I’m so sorry. I d-didn’t mean to l-lash out at you.” I console him, with my own sobs. “Please, I never meant to hurt you. I’m just tense from what happened earlier. With everything going down. You getting hurt, me almost breaking my promise to Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro, and now Perry getting involved.” I wiped away a few more tears from our faces. Standing up, I hand my brother a backpack full of books, tools, and clothes for him.
“Where are we going, Candace?” he asked
“Anywhere but here for the time being. I’m going to go see if Stacy’s parents will allow us to spend the night. But first, we need to make a trip to Isabella’s, so she can grab a few changes of clothes. Isabella!” I exclaim as she reenters the room, with a ladder in one hand. “Thanks for grabbing that, you probably just saved us a good hour. Now let’s get outta here.” We make our way to the window overlooking the backyard, with a short maple tree with orange and yellow leaves, a small sandbox whose sand is scattered across the grass, a rusty swing set in disarray, and an old, wooden shed. I placed the ladder as quietly as I could, banging it on the side of the house. Isabella was the first to climb out, her landing on the grass with ease. I turn around to climb out with Phineas running across the hall, grabbing something. “Phineas, where are you going? Dad may see you and do only what Mom knows now.”
“I’m just grabbing my tool box and most recent project. It's a holographic watch that can display time, receive texts and calls, and project certain things.” I just stand there silently, with a smile on my face.
“Well, look at you. Building the next generation. Now come on, let’s get out of here, Isabella’s waitin’ on us over at her house. You go first, your safety is my priority. Phineas slid down the ladder without touching the rungs, despite the wounds on his legs. That kid will always be a mystery to me. I climb down more carefully, taking the time to search for the rungs in the darkness, but Phineas shines a light at me, temporarily blinding me. “Thanks for shining light on the subject, and in my eyes Phin.”
“Your welcome.” he responds. I straighten my thoughts and continue descending the ladder. I finally reach the ground, despite my fear of heights shaking me up. I grab Phineas and sprint across Maple Drive, where Isabella is waiting for us at the Garcia-Shapiro house. She’s apparently already done grabbing clothes as I see her with her backpack, standing on the front porch.
“Well, I guess that’s settled then.” I led the two younglings to a nearby telephone box, and motioned them to take a seat nearby. I grabbed the phone in the box, hoping it would pick up as I dialed the number to the Hirano household. Come on, come on. Pickup! Pickup! I think impatiently.
“Hello, this is the Hirano family, to whom am I speaking to?” I hear my best friend speaking.
“Stacy!” I exclaim, maybe just a little too loudly, as Phineas jumped off the bench.
“Candace, why are you calling at this hour? It’s almost 11:30. I know it's the weekend, but aren’t you babysittin’ right now?”
“That’s exactly what I’m here to tell you about?” I asked, hint of worriness.
“Candace, what happened?” she asked
“I’ll tell you when I get there, but for now, you mind if I bunk at your place for a little while?”