And, with that; Daphne is no longer the only angry, crazed wolf-bitch in the room.
An enraged Bellona furiously snaps, “Better watch what you say; before I rip out your tongue!”
Dad growls at Bellona, “What did you just say to me; you insolent she-wolf, bitch of a daughter?!”
“That’s enough!” Mom pleadingly cries out, “Bellona, please; apologize to your father this instant. … You too; Pomona.”
Bellona replies, “The hell I will … at least; not until he apologizes to Pomona, first.”
Daphne has me add, “Well … we’re not going to apologize, either. Not until he apologizes to you; Mom.”
Dad shoots me over another derisive sneer; accompanied with a rebuking glare…
“Why you little…” he emits a brief chuckle under his breath, “I’ll tell you what; Daphne … you’ve certainly got way more spunk than that gutless counterpart of yours, Pomona, ever has; I’ll give you that much. Too bad you’re trapped in such a shamefully weak shell of a body.”
Bellona instantly shoots her arm up, holding her hand menacingly poised over her head; with her claws now jutting out from her fingertips. She growls…
“I’m warning you; remember to watch your words if you want to keep your tongue.”
Dad belts out a brief guffaw; then, ridicules Daphne … of course; doing so by insulting me…
“You see there, Daphne; now that’s how it’s done. Bellona not only has a sharper tongue than yours; but, she has even sharper claws to back it up … not to mention fangs, too; when in her wolf-form. While, on the other hand; Pomona can’t even shape-shift to allow you to take on your true form.
Just face it; as long as you’re trapped inside her … stuck within this weakened state … you’re basically just all bark, with no bite. You can’t defend yourself to cover any checks written by that smart-mouth of yours … or; even intimidate anyone, for that matter. That’s why Pomona always needs to hide behind Bellona, in order to protect herself.”
Bellona impishly grins; as she taunts Dad, “I don’t know … it looked to me like the twins were pretty shaken up and intimidated by her, when she was giving both of them a good beating.”
“She what?!” Dad glares at me through seething eyes for a brief moment; as his face turns beet-red … then, he spins around to look at the twins. “Is that true; did your sister beat you?”
So far, the twins haven’t uttered a single word to our father; and, I’m guessing it’s because they realize that they’re probably already in deep trouble with him for sneaking out, and staying out all night … so; they don’t want to rock the boat, and draw attention to themselves.
They maintain their silence; but instead, somehow manage to scheme … impressively; on the spot, at that … a devising manner to convey the image of being the victimized, ‘Daddy’s baby girls’ by coyly batting the eyelashes of their puppy dog eyes, and quiver their lips as they innocently pout; while sorrowfully-looking nodding their heads.
Our father spins back around; totally enraged, as he intensely glares at me with bulging eyes popping out from his even darker, beet-red face. He angrily growls…
“How dare you lay a finger on your ‘baby sisters’!”
Daphne has me flippantly quip, “Actually; it was eight fingers and two thumbs … tightly balled up into two fists.”
I swear, if Dad was a cartoon character; at that point, the top of his head would have split away and popped off … hovering over the remaining portion of his head, on a cloud of gushingly emitting steam.
Dad ferociously roars out, “Why you little … I’m going to teach you a lesson you won’t be forgetting any time soon.”
He starts ominously stepping towards me, holding his hand raised high above his head; with the obvious intent of striking me. … But; in a flash … Bellona jumps out in front of me, and lunges at our father with her arm reaching out in front of her; while stretching her hand out wide-open … ready to grasp hold of his neck.
Bellona’s inches away from wrapping her fingers around his neck; when he suddenly stumbles back … or, to be more precise, is abruptly pulled back out of harm’s way by Helena; who then, throws herself between him and a raging Bellona, and shouts…
“Stop it; Bellona! … How could you even think about going after Father, like that?”
Bellona snaps, “He was going after Pomona, first!”
“Even still … he’s our father; and, you can’t treat him like that.”
Bellona’s seething eyes seemingly pierce through Helena, and fiercely glare upon him; as she derisively scoffs…
“‘Our father’? Are you kidding me … what kind of a father shamelessly berates and emotionally abuses his own daughter on an almost daily basis? And now; he’s going to hit her, on top of that. … That’s not a father; that’s just an unfortunate sperm donor.”
Mom admonishes her, “Bellona, how could you speak about your father like that … you should never say such horrible things about him.”
Bellona curtly replies, “And, he should never say such horrible things about Pomona.” She glares at Dad. “And; he sure as hell better not ever hit her.”
Helena interjects, “You’re right; Bellona … but, at the same time, you really should stop disrespecting Father; and, apologize to him like Mother said to do before.”
Yeah … I can totally see now why Helena is our father’s favorite.
Bellona tells her, “And, you need to butt out of this; Helena. Like I said; I’ll only apologize to him after he apologizes to Pomona. And; as far as me disrespecting him goes … I’ll show him respect as soon as he shows us respect.”
“There’s nothing that says that parents need to show respect to their children; Bellona … but, we as children should always show respect to our parents. This is what our role and obligation as filial children is.”
Suddenly … and, shockingly unexpected … Dad shoves Helena away; as he scoffs…
“What do you know what it means to be a filial child? … You certainly haven’t been one.”