Daddy's Little Blind Bird

Michael eye's ripped open as he gasped, shooting upright in his king sized bed. He froze for a second before he heard it again. A cry. He jumped up out of the bed his useless wife was sleeping in, completely ignorant as to what's happening as always, and ran to his daughter's room.

He ripped the door open and rushed to her side. The blue silk sheets were tangled around the thirteen year old as she whimpered and cried, reliving a horrific memory it seemed. Unfortunately, Michael knew all too well what that horrific memory was.

The day she lost her sight.

"Penelope!" He tried to shake her awake as she began to wail. "Penelope, baby, it's okay. I'm here,"

She let out another wail before snapping her eyes opened. Her clouded pale blue eyes frantically searched the room, despite the fact she couldn't see. Tears streamed down her face as she heard the crunching of metal and her dad screaming her name before everything went black... permanently.

"Daddy?" She whimpered raising her hands, searching for him.

"Shh, it's okay," he whispered to her as he gathered her tightly in his arms. "You're safe baby."

He held her while she cried into his chest. He soothed her until she calmed down. He told her he loved her when she clung to him. He sang to her as she fell asleep. He made the nightmares go away after she began to whimper again. It was the least he could do for her. After all... it was his fault she was blind.

He had been the one behind the wheel. He was the one who did this to his daughter. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings and one minute everything was fine and then the next minute everything descended to hell.

She didn't deserve this, Penelope was always such a sweet girl to everyone around her. Nothing like her family. But in a good way. She didn't cuss, or do drugs, or drink alcohol, or get any tattoo's. She did her school work with flying colors and she just a nice person at heart. But now she won't leave the house if her daddy wasn't with her. Even then she only got to the driveway until she panicked and asked her daddy to take her back home. She used to love to play outside with Michael, and now she won't go near the front door. She was scared of the outside world.

Did she blame her daddy? Of course not. She knew it wasn't his fault. He had no control over what happened. He wasn't the one at fault despite the fact that he blames himself constantly for her blindness. She just misses be able to sit on the couch with her daddy and watch old movies together while they eat so much popcorn it would make them feel sick later. She missed a lot of things because her sights gone, but that was life.

Constantly throwing obstacles at you.

This was just another one of life's obstacles. But she wasn't so confident in herself that she could conquer it. She couldn't even walk a few steps in her own house before bumping into something or someone. But she was trying. She was failing... but she was trying nonetheless.

Michael winced when the sunlight his his eyes once he cracked them open. He looked around the room confused to how he got there, before remembering last nights events. He looked down to see his baby still sleeping peacefully in his arms. He sighed, brushing a few curls out of her face. It was a rare night when Penelope would sleep through the entire night without a peep.

He let his head fall back against the pillows as he began to drift in and out of consciousness. He was retired so it wasn't like he needed get up anytime soon and go somewhere. He was rich, he could do whatever the fuck he wanted. He could spend the rest of the day holding his daughter close and chasing the nightmares away from her mind if he so chooses. And choose he did.

"Michael," he heard someone hiss at him after a few hours it seemed, waking him up from his much needed sleep.

"Michael," he heard Amanda hiss again. He just grunted, burying his face back into Penelope's chocolate curls, intent on ignoring his nagging wife.

"Michael would you get up dammit!" He sighed in irritation before opening his eyes and propping himself up with Penelope's forgotten pillow. He shifted his baby, making sure she was still comfortably resting against his chest before facing the she-devil.

"Can I help you Amanda?" He made sure to keep his voice at a soft murmur. He wasn't going wake up his baby girl if he could help it.

"You can help me by getting your ass off the bed and doing something productive! It's eleven o'clock in the morning and you're still sleeping. In your daughter's bed mind you!" Amanda ranted to him, obviously not caring if she woke said daughter.

Penelope frowned in her sleep from her mother's shouting before shifting closer to her father, as if she thinks even in her sleep that he'll protect her. Michael tightened his arms around Penelope as if Amanda would reach over and try to rip his daughter from his arms at any moment. He would gladly die before he let anyone take her from him.

He loved her so much. As soon as those, then, brown eyes opened for the first time while Michael was holding her, it was like an instant connection had formed. Penelope followed her daddy everywhere. She was always close to him, they became even closer than she thought possible when she became blind. She loved her mother too, but if it came down to it Penelope would always save her daddy first. Her daddy came first no matter what. And with Michael, his baby girl came first. Fuck anyone else.

"Excuse me for trying comfort our daughter because of those dammed nightmares while you just fuck around with the tennis coach behind my back, not once giving any fucks about your mentally scarred daughter!" Michael shot back, quietly.

"How dare you!" Amanda gasped in outrage. Who does he think he is? Thinking that she didn't care of Penelope since the day of her accident. She loved her daughter as much as she loved Tracey and Jimmy.

"How dare I? How dare I? How dare you for not caring about our daughter's health, but all you seem to care about is your fucking tennis!" He whisper-yelled at her.

Amanda opened her mouth ready to cuss him until he six fucking feet under, but a small sniffling sound reached their ears interrupting them. They both looked to the source where the crying was coming from. It was Penelope. Their screaming had woken her up.

"Please stop fighting," she whimpered as the tears ran from her big cloudy eyes down her reddened cheeks and dripped onto Michael's chest. "I'm sorry about the nightmares momma. I didn't mean to upset you, I promise I'll try and stop s-screaming at n-night." She cried harder into her daddy's chest at the thought of displeasing her mother, or even displeasing her daddy.

She hated it when her parents fought each other. It made her feel scared that one day her mom might one day snap and take her and her older siblings away from daddy. She didn't want that. Not at all. She didn't want her family to be separated. She loved them like they way they were, minus all the fighting and cussing each other out.

"It's not your fault Penelope," Michael soothed, giving his wife a glare for making her feel like she was the problem in their failing marriage.

Amanda just glared at her husband before leaving them alone. She didn't want to be late for her 'tennis lesson'. She knew sleeping around with every guy she found attractive wasn't the mature thing to do after finding her husband cheating on her, but she just couldn't give a damn any longer.

Michael just sighed before holding Penelope in his arms before falling back asleep... too tired to deal with the family drama constantly plaguing him and Penelope.

~M&P~

"You're such a fucking dictator! Why the fuck not?!" Tracey demanded.

Michael sighed to himself as he walked out of the house with a drink in his hand and a cigar hanging from his mouth.

Amanda and his older daughter Tracey were having a go at each other because of the new boyfriend Tracey brought home and he was sick of hearing it.

"He's not staying the night!" Amanda screamed.

Michael bent down to pick up a leaf from the floor before tossing it behind him and continued to walk over to the pool side.

"He's a bum!"

"He doesn't have anywhere to go!"

Michael laid down on one of his lounge chairs by the pool, placing his headphones in and turning up the volume. He sighed leaning back against the chair taking a sip of his alcoholic beverage. He wondered if he should invite Penelope out here. She loved feeling the sun warm her skin while she cuddled into his arms.

Now that he thought about it he hadn't seen Penelope in a few hours. His forehead creased in worry. Just as he decided to get up and look for her and make sure she didn't trip and fall somewhere a shadow blocked his view from the sun. After setting his drink down on the small table next to him, he reached up and lifted his sunglasses, seeing Franklin standing there. He sighed, taking off his head phones.

"What do want?" He asked, already irritated.

"Man, I come by for that drink you offered. That's all." Frank raised his hands, a universal sign of peace.

"I wasn't really serious about that." He told him settling back into his chair.

"What?"

"Your here, whatever. Sit." Michael said, gesturing towards the lounge chair on his right. "You're not gonna rob me again?"

"Man I never robbed you. That was just a repossession." Frank said, sitting down sideways on the chair.

"Okay..." Michael chuckled a little. "you call it whatever you want to call it. I really don't care," he took another drag of his cigar. "What can I do for you?"

"Shit, I just came by to see if there's somethin' I can help you with. I see you doin' well for yourself." Franklin gestured towards the big two story house behind him and the pool.

"Look... I'm retired."

"Ain't you a bit young for the pipe, slippers, ans starin' at a fucking sunset?" Frank asked him.

"You know, I've been in this game for a lot of years, and I got out alive. That makes me the right age." He sighed sitting up and taking off his sunglasses. "You look like a good kid. But if you want my advice, you give this shit up. You work hard, screw over everybody that you love, hurt, rob, kill indiscriminately and maybe... just maybe, if you're lucky, you become a three bit gangster. It's bullshit. Go to college." Michael sighed, leaning back in his chair, "Then you can rip people off and get paid for it. It's called capitalism."

"Hmm, so what I saw the other day was like, when a corpse briefly reanimates itself and terrorizes everyone, right?" Frank guessed.

"What you saw the other day... was a guy dealing with pests."

"I guess I never saw myself as just a fuckin' pest." Frank admitted looking down at his hands.

"Well, then the day's lesson's all about humility. Tomorrow we'll try a training montage."

"A training what?" Frank looked up at Michael.

"Nothin'. I was just lost in an eighties movie fantasy." Penelope would've gotten what he was talking about. Where is Penelope? It's not like her to just stay up in her room all day.

"Yeah," Franklin scoffed, "I can see you spend a lot of time there."

"Yeah, as much as I can."

"So that's why you here in Vinewood then, right?"

"Maybe I'm here because I'm just an idiot, who thinks that imported palm trees are a good substitute for not really knowing what the fuck you're doing on this earth." He gestured towards the imported palm trees that were scattered across the back garden.

"Jesus, man. You a good time, you know that?"

"I'll tell you what," Michael said, sitting up in his chair, "least I can do is buy you that beer." He told him, standing up. "There's a little bar I like. It's not too far from here. Let's go."

"Alright man," Franklin said getting, "I'm following you."

"We're taking my wife's car," he told Franklin as they made their past the side of the house coming up on the driveway right before he's phone started ringing.

"Hey Jim," he greeted his son, "I'm going for a drink w..."

"Dad, shit! I'm in our boat going down the Western Highway. It's, it's been stolen."

"What? The yacht's been stolen?" He climbed into the driver's side of the red convertible, Franklin getting into the passenger's side.

"I was trying to sell it. I know you didn't want it sold, but I need money, and they don't want to buy it, they just want to take it. I'm hiding in the head with..." Jimmy trailed off nervously knowing what would happen if dad found out who was with him.

"With who James?" He growled already having a bad feeling in his gut as he drove out of the gates and onto the road.

"Uh, well you see, it's, uh..." Jim sighed deciding he might as well get it over with, "Penelope,"

"You took your little sister with you to sell my boat and use the money for drugs and now you're both kidnapped?! You little shit when I get my hands on you you're gonna wish you were never born!" Michael screamed into the phone, almost crushing it in his hands.

He took a deep breath to calm himself. His poor baby must be so scared. He needed to calm down for her so he could find her and bring her back home.

"You're Insane! Alright, I'm coming for Penelope and my boat!" He ended the call muttering dark threats under his breath before he decided to enlighten Franklin. "Alrighty then. Change of plans. My darling boy is in trouble and he's dragged my younger daughter into it as well."

"Eh, I'll help you out." Franklin offered.

"Lesson number one: don't ever have kids." Michael grumbled before remember Penelope. "Scratch that, don't ever have sons, but if you have a daughter like Penelope then you're fine."

"Hey man look, if I had kids, I don't think no parenting issues would arise over who had boat privileges and who don't. Shit, motherfuckers be lucky to sit in a bath tub."

"Shit, things that desperate, huh?"

"Nah, but, you know, shit, I was making a point."

"Mythologizing self-deprecation." Michael nodded, "I know it well..."

"Yeah man, but shit, where the boat at?"

"Little shit's been hijacked. They're somewhere on the Western Highway."

Michael drove down the road until he came across the Western Highway. A truck blaring its horn with a massive boat attached to the back barreled dangerously down the street, swerving violently left to right.

"Oh! There! There! There it is! That's my boat!" Michael shouted. His poor baby was on that boat. God by the time he was done with Jimmy he'd have one less child to take care of.

"Your boat's in a fuckin' hurry, man."

"Yeah, well, we'll catch 'em." Or die trying, Michael thought narrowly missing a car by inches as he struggled to keep up with the truck. They chased the boat for a few moments dodging every car on the highway, before Michael finally caught up to them.

"We got a plan?" Franklin yelled over the horn blaring.

"Sure. Once I get us up close, you're the boarding party."

"More like the falling in traffic party."

"You'll be fine. Anything happens, I got a piece in the glove box. I'll cover you." Michael promised as he sped closer to the yacht getting as close as he could without wrecking the either vehicle.

Franklin unbuckled his seat belt and started to climb over the windshield before swinging himself on top of the hood of the car.

"Oh, yeah, man. Fine. Just fucking fine. So you thought of everything, right?" Franklin rolled over on his back positioning himself to jump.

"Well you said you wanted to learn the old way of doing things. This is the old way."

Franklin took a deep breath before leaping from the convertible and onto the yacht. He scrambled to get his body over to the deck.

"Oh, fuck!" Franklin swore as one of the thieves made his way onto the deck and tried pushing Franklin off. "Get yo' ass out of here." Frank grunted as he tried fighting off his attacker before he finally got the upper hand and threw him off the boat and right under Michael's car.

"You got four lanes to throw guys at!" Michael complained and he swerved to miss another car.

Another one of the thugs made their way on deck. Frank quickly ducked behind the wheel before the thug could see him.

"Be cool, Frank. Be cool. Shit." Michael mumbled.

He waited crouched there for a few seconds before lunging up and trying to subdue him and take his gun. They tousled for a few minutes before Frank lost the fight and was bent over the side of the boat.

"Hey, this dude's trying to kill me, man!" Frank cried as he continued to struggle with him.

"Get away from him!" Michael shouted before reaching down and grabbing his gun. He started shooting at the thief. Frank quickly subdued him and knocked him out.

"Okay! Now go find Penelope!" Michael hollered to Franklin.

"Dad?" James cried as he came out from under the head. "Wait," he pointed at Frank, "You're the guy from the dealership?"

"Yup. And it's a long story, bro."

"Oh shit!" Jimmy cried.

"Jimmy! Kid, watch out for the boom!" Michael called a second too late. Jimmy was knocked off of the boat and was hanging over traffic, clutching the boom tightly as it swung around.

"Fuck, hold on!" Frank called before another one of the thieves ran up to Frank and started fighting with him.

"Arrrghh! Dad! Help! Help! Help!" Jimmy cried as he started to slip.

"Whoa! Crap!" Michael swore as he saw Frank get pushed out of the boat. He just managed to grab the side of the boat and hang onto it.

Michael sped up and was underneath Jimmy, just as his grasp slipped and he fell straight into the back seat of his mother's car.

"The fuck is wrong with you, kid?" Michael shouted.

"Dad?" Jimmy wailed.

"Don't 'Dad' me, you little shit. You better hope Penelope's okay."

Frank managed to throw another one of the fuckers off the boat, before he went into the head of the boat to look for Penelope.

"This is gonna kill me!" Micheal cried as he swerved to avoid a body being chucked off the boat.

Franklin found her hiding in the closet shaking violently. "Hey Penelope," he reached over and gently touched her.

She let out a cry snapping her eyes open even though it was useless.

Franklin bulked slightly when he saw her clouded over eyes. Oh, so that's why Michael was more concerned for Penelope than Jimmy, she's blind.

"Shh, it's okay. I'm a friend of your Dad's." That did it.

"Daddy's here?" She asked hopefully before cringing when the boat swerved dangerously.

"Come on," Franklin reached over and gently picked her up in his arms. "Let's get you outta here,"

Franklin quickly climbed back up onto the boat, "Hey! Get us off of this damn thing!" He cried to Michael. Franklin curled Penelope tightly against his chest before jumping off the boat and landing on his back on the hood of Michael's red car. "Remind me not to come to you for parenting advice." Frank grumbled as he struggled to get himself and Penelope over the windshield of the car. He landed in the passenger's seat with a plop with Penelope on his lap.

"Penelope," Michael said looking over at her, "You okay, baby?"

No, she thought but nodded her head anyway. She could have her breakdown later, when she was in the safe confines of her room.

"This is getting really weird, pop." Jimmy complained from the back seat. "Ohh, now that doesn't sound good." The engine started making weird noises and smoke started to come out from under the hood.

"Damn, that's the engine, man. We ain't chasing shit in this thing." Frank said before Michael turned the car around.

"It doesn't matter. I'm not risking Penelope chasing after them."

"Hey! What about me?" Jimmy complained loudly.

"My fucking boat!" Michael swore as he hit the steering wheel once.

"Hey..." Jimmy complained, "it's just a thing! At least you've still got a son and a daughter..."

"Eh. There's a chop shop back there, dog. You drive us there, we can get the ride fixed." Franklin said pointing to it.

"My boat." Michael moaned.

"It's just a thing." Jimmy said.

"My boat."

"Please stop doing that... Listen... I fucked up, okay... I'm not going to lie. That was... a really bad judgment call... but... shit, Dad, I nearly died, and all you give a shit about is the fucking boat?!"

"No... it's not that... it's..."

"All we do is scream at each other... no wonder I can't get a job... It's all your fucking fault. Or, it's not... but it's partly your fault. I... I mean, I just want to impress you."

Penelope frowned when she heard Jimmy blame dad for him not getting a job. It's wasn't daddy's fault Jimmy was lazy.

"By selling my boat to some gag bangers and bringing my blind daughter along for the journey? What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Michael was not amused.

"I know it sounds dumb when you put it like that... but all you do is day dream or get angry..."

"Look," Michael sighed, "I love you Jimmy, but you're an asshole, and right now, with my boat disappearing over the horizon, that's all I can see... Franklin, would you do me a favor and give this kid a ride him after they've fixed this thing? I want to headbutt the road in peace."

"Oh great – leave me with the home invader!" Jimmy whined from the back seat.

"I'll get it done, dog. No problem." Frank told him nodding his head.

"Dad?!" Jimmy cried.

"Enough. Alright? Enough." He sighed, "Franklin, do me a favor, call me a taxi, will you?"

"No problem." Frank said, getting out his phone. "Hey, this place up here. I know this dude, man, his name's Hao. He goin' look after us."

"Alright, take what's in my pocket – a couple of thousand bucks. That'll cover it, right?" Michael gave Frank the money.

"Yeah. Should be cool."

"Good." He said pulling up next to the chop shop. "So, you sure you're good?"

"Yeah I got this."

"Alright," Michael sighed as he stepped out of the car.

"Oo, and I'm gonna come up front." Jimmy started to climb over the seats after Franklin had slid into the driver's side. Franklin reached up and put the shaking Penelope into her father's waiting hands.

"Get out and walk around." Micheal snapped as he held Penelope in his arms, soothingly rubbing his poor baby's back, she was shaking so hard. He'd had enough of Jimmy's idiotic tactics for one day.

"It's okay, I can just climb over."

"Look, man. I'm gonna get the ride fixed, man," Frank said to Michael elbowing Jimmy's ass out of his face as Jim climbed over the seats into the passenger's side. "and drop it back off at your house along with this dude." He nodded towards Jim. "It's good though man. You go and get your head right, alright?"

Michael waved down the taxi coming up to them. "Alright. Listen, thanks for today. Appreciate it. You stop back out to the house, we'll talk."

"You see?" Jimmy raised his hands above his head.

"Fo' sho, man. Hey, sorry we didn't get your boat, man."

"Yeah," Michael climbed into the taxi as Frank and Jimmy drove in the chop shop to get his wife's car fixed.

After he told the drive where to go, he sighed burying his face into Penelope's chocolate curls for a few seconds before turning her around so she was sideways on his lap.

"Are you okay, baby?"

She shook her head, tears spilling over her cheeks and onto his shirt.

He held her as she started silently crying. He stroked her hair back from her face as he tried to console her. Jimmy made Penelope cry. Jimmy was going to die.

After half and hour they finally made it back home. He paid the driver and picked up the sleeping beauty and carried her in the house, setting her down on the couch. He sighed, lying down next to her so he could hold her. He was sure she was going to have nightmares about that thanks to Jimmy. As if she didn't already have enough to worry about.

The guilt he felt only grew. He was the one who had caused her blindness. Because of his carelessness behind the wheel, Penelope paid the price.

She was his little blind bird.

Daddy's little blind bird.