I'm not so great at meeting personal deadlines.

Rin tried to catch her breath as she stared at her Facebook, her heart pounding, her hands shaking.

"Um, who are you and why are you saying stuff about Miku?"

"Bitch"

"What in hell is wrong with you? Stop trash-talking people."

"Why don't you go die?"

"I bet you're the whore. Stop being a bitch."

"What a slut."

She ran her fingers through her hair and stood from her chair at her desk, closing the window and hastily slamming her laptop closed. She felt her eyes stinging, just begging to overflow with tears, her mind crammed with thoughts about these strangers. All of a sudden, she had gotten all these messages from people she did not know. At least ten people had messaged her saying that she had talked badly about Miku. Yeah, to Gumi!

She did not understand what was happening, nor did she understand why it was happening to her. "Oh, my God," she said quietly, her face twisting into one of horror when she heard her phone buzzing from more accusatory messages. She threw a pillow over it, and she continued to hear the buzz buzz that it made, and she still heard the little blips of new messages resounding in her head—

Len put on a fake smile as Neru exclaimed, "Len! It's been years—how many... Ten? Eleven?"

"Thirteen, actually," he said quietly, wishing a hole in the ground would appear and take him somewhere else at that very moment.

Neru Akita used to be a wonderful person. She used to be kind and caring, but she then got into alcohol and drugs and everything went to hell. She only brought back bad memories, terrible visions of the the past that Len wished he could just forget. He rubbed the back of his head, feeling of a distinct knot where he remembered a can of hairspray being thrown at him.

The man with her was vaguely familiar, but Len could not wrap his head around who is was—no, wait, his name was Rei. Rei Kagene. Neru wrapped her arm around him, grinning. They both reeked of alcohol, but Neru looked a little too drunk to even be able to stand upright. "How's Rin?" she said, her balance wobbly.

"She's great. At the top of her class." Len cringed having to tell Neru about their—his—daughter. Neru was hardly any mother to Rin.

"That's amazing!" Neru said.

She was no doubt about to ask another question before Len said, "I have to go. Rin's waiting." He waved half-heartedly and hurriedly left the building, feeling like he could drop dead.

When he got into his car, his hands were shaking and he honestly felt like he could cry. He had moved. He had distanced himself. He thought that he would forever be rid of her. He had a some difficulty breathing as he cranked the car and turned the air conditioning on. His knuckles were white from his grip on the steering wheel, and the streetlamps had just been turned on, shrouding his body in artificial white light—

"Neru, I'm not doing this. Not when Rin is here."

"No, you asshole! I am!" Neru opened the door of their house, her face angrier than Len knew she could get. She held a brand-new can of hairspray in her hand, gripping it tightly, her small hand wrapped just below the nozzle.

Len hastily buckled Rin into her car seat as he began to sweat. "Rin, we're going to... We're just going to get out of the house, okay?"

Rin nodded happily. Her three-year-old mind could only register that something was happening, and she knew that this certain thing was very, very bad, as her father's hands were shaking more than she'd ever seen. He kissed her forehead lightly and walked around to reach the driver's side.

He left the door closed for a moment as he walked back to the doorstep. "Neru," he said, his voice stern, trying to keep a decent volume for Rin's sake, "you need to do something about this. You are not going to act like this around Rin. She's three, for God's sake-"

"No!" Neru yelled. "Tell me! Tell me what's wrong!" She stumbled for a moment, and Len tried to catch her from falling, but Neru only slapped his hands away in a fit of anger.

Len tried to control himself and not get in a fight with her no matter how much he wanted to. He so wanted to yell back, to let her know that she was a drunkard, to let her know that she was a terrible mother. His mind told him no, and he listened.

Neru stamped her foot as she said, "You think I'm an idiot. You think I'm a drunk. You think I'm all these things, and you won't even let me be around my daughter by myself-"

"And that's because of what you're doing right now. You need to find some way to fix this because I am sick and tired of it." Len backed away, shaking his head. "I- I can't do this. I can't."

He turned to walk away, settling his eyes on Rin. She was the only thing he lived for at this point. She was the only thing that brought him any light in the dark crevice that was indeed his life at such a time. All he wanted to do was drive for a while until he was somewhere else and just stay there. Just be away from his wife. No, this was not what he married. He married someone he loved, someone who made him happy, a woman who was strong and kind and eager to settle down and start a family and be happy, not this drunkard who hated everyone.

He was about to open the door to the car when he felt the can of hairspray hit him in the back of the head, making him dizzy for a moment. He grabbed onto the car to regain his balance and managed to open the door and slide in.

"Daddy?" a small voice said, causing Len to turn around. Rin stared at him with her big blue eyes, worry written all over her face. "What's happening?"

Len felt guilt stab him through the chest. "Your mother isn't the same anymore. She's... She's changed." He reached back and gently enveloped Rin's little hand with his own, stroking her soft skin with his thumb. "But I'm going to get you taken care of. You're my number one, remember?" He forced a smile for her and looked away for a moment.

"Where are we going?"

Len started up the car and backed out, feeling the car run over the can of hairspray.

"Rin, I'm back!"

Len closed the door behind him, smiling at the thought of hopefully being rid of Neru. He frowned when Rin did not answer, for it was unlike her to not come bounding into the living room to greet him like she had done for years.

He walked back to her room and gently knocked on her closed door. "Hey, Kiddo. Are you okay? I got some food, if you're hungry now."

Rin cursed under her breath and wiped her tears away. "Yeah, I'll- I'll be right there. Changing." She leaped from her seat on the bed and quickly slipped into a T-shirt and some shorts, constantly checking her mirror to see if her eyes were still read and puffy.

She had spent the last twenty minutes crying. When Len left, she got on Facebook and saw the multitude of hate directed at her. After a great deal of tears and the great desire to disappear from the Earth, she had to fake it. She had to act like everything was okay, like nothing was bothering her. She decided that, on the morrow, she would delete her account and stop the hate entirely. She'd dealt with petty elementary-school bullies before. This was high school. She could handle a bully. The tears were just raging hormones, she figured.

She opened the door and walked into the kitchen, smiling at her dad. She got the Styrofoam trays from the plastic bag and set them on the table while Len grabbed two water bottles. They sat down, and, for a moment, everything seemed normal.

Although, Rin and Len knew each other better than anyone else; they knew when something was amiss. Len was the first to call on it: "Rin, are you doing okay? You look pale." As her father, he knew when she was bothered or upset. She tended to lose color and become more nervous.

She grinned and nodded. "Yeah, of course, I was just really hungry," she said, stuffing a large piece of chicken into her mouth. "How about you?"

Len followed suit. "I'm fine," he said, his mouth full and his words distorted, earning a laugh from Rin.

"But, something is... Up." Len swallowed his food and looked away, feeling the same sensation of nervousness that he felt when Rin was three. Rin nodded to signal that she was listening. "I, um, bumped into someone today."

"Oh, yeah?" Rin replied. "Who?"

Len set his elbows on the table, pressing his fingers together and contemplating what he was about to say. "I saw your mother and her... Significant other."

Rin stayed silent and furrowed her brows.

"She's the same as she was before."

"How was she before?"

The father sighed again. All of a sudden, he looked tireder to Rin. His dark circles seemed to become more visible and he looked paler. Rin could now see the crow's feet developing beside his eyes that were most likely once a brighter blue, having dulled in luster over time. He frowned as he said, "A drunk."

hey now, you're a rockstar, get your game on, go play

Sorry about the being late thing. And sorry if y'all think it sucks booty. I'm actually really proud of this chapter, though!

Thanks for reading! Leave a review!