THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE FIRST VIDEO
We sat side by side on my stepdaughter's bed, and I felt my hand growing cold in hers.
Part of me wanted to run from the room, from the house, from the world - anything besides hearing about that night. But I wouldn't run from my daughter, no matter how painful it might be. It wasn't her fault I had sunk so low back then. The least I could do was listen. It would hurt me terribly, but I deserved it.
Tracie took a deep breath and exhaled. She said, "For a long time, I never knew for sure whether you were just pretending to have no memory of that night. But now I believe you really were black-out drunk."
All these months, Tracie knew things I didn't know about that night - not that I wanted to know. I regretted giving her that burden, but I was shaking with fear to find out what she knew. As her one hand held mine, her other kindly stroked my wrist.
She said, "I remember it was really hot on my birthday. It was some kind of record, I think. Things had gotten so bad by then, you were drinking so much, that I had already been thinking about making videos of you when you were drunk. I figured that would be so embarrassing, I could blackmail you to stop drinking. And sure enough, when I got home from school, there you were, passed out on the couch again."
My head dropped in shame. How bad I had made things; how I had neglected and hurt my stepdaughter. Yet now, after all that, she was still here with me. Did I deserve such love?
She said, "I was so hurt and mad at you for forgetting my birthday, and even madder after we fought about it. I went to my room and I felt so alone. I didn't talk to any of my friends about it, because I didn't want them knowing what was going on."
"I'm so sorry, Tracie..."
"I know you are, Mom. I know. I would have gone for a long walk or something, but it was so hot out. So I just took a cool shower and spent the rest of the day here in my room with the fan on. To keep myself from crying, I just scrolled through videos and social media on my phone for a long time. After a while, the phone battery was getting low, and I remembered my phone charger was out by you."
I listened, my eyes closed. I couldn't bear to look at her.
She continued the story. "So I came out, wearing just my panties and that really small t-shirt I wear to bed when it's hot, the one cropped up really high. You were sitting at the table with your glass and a half-empty bottle of vodka. I walked straight to my charger, grabbed it, and as I passed you, I gave you a dirty look. You were as drunk as I'd ever seen you."
I cringed in embarrassment. My hands grew clammy. I tried to control my breathing to calm myself.
"Mom, it's okay." My daughter wiped a tear from my face. Her voice was gentle. "So, I started walking back to my room, and you said, 'It doesn't last, Tracie.' I didn't know what you meant. I just ignored you and kept walking. Then, you started saying stuff I couldn't believe."
"Oh, god," I mumbled, growing colder.
"Do you remember at all what you said to me, Mom?"
I shook my head no, squeezing my eyes closed tight.
She went on, "I was walking away from you, and you said, 'That perfect, juicy little ass.'"
"What? No, I didn't!" I said, in disbelief. "Who talks like that?"
"You did," she said, laughing. "I remember exactly what you said. 'That perfect, juicy little ass.'"
I shook my head, tingling in fear of what was coming next.
Tracie sounded less amused as she went on. "So I stopped in my tracks. I was like, 'Excuse me?' and you started going on this rant. You said, 'You don't know how hard it is when you're older, missy. You're just a teenage schoolgirl. Of course you have a perfect body. Any man would kill to get a hold of it. They'll marry you. They'll say,
You don't need to work; stay at home; you'll be such a good mother; raise my children.
And you'll do it, because you think they love you.'"
I started to cry. I had no memory of saying these things, but they rang true, like they had come straight from my broken heart. I said, "Tracie..."
"No, Mom, don't cry. Please, just listen." She reached for a tissue on her nightstand and handed it to me. As I wiped my face, she moved to sit closer, twining her arm around mine. She went on, "So I said, 'Is that the only reason you stayed at home with me, Mom? Because Dad asked you to? You didn't even love me?' And you got really loud and you said, 'Of course I love you! No one will ever love you like I do! I'm your mother!'"
I looked apologetically at my daughter and said, "That much is true."
She rested her head on my shoulder, hugging my arm tight. "I know, Mom. I'm sorry about what I said next. I told you, 'Well you don't act like you love me anymore.' And you got even angrier. You said, 'You don't even know how much I love you, Tracie. You couldn't even understand.' You were looking at me in a weird way. And you said, 'You don't know how hard it is keeping things straight, with you walking around here in your little panties and your sexy little shirt, like...' and then you put your fist over your mouth and just stared at me, looking me up and down. So I said, 'Like what, Mom? What were you going to call me? A slut?' And you yelled, 'I never called you that! I would never call you that!' You were really upset."
I winced and struggled to keep myself from sobbing there on my child's bed.
"It's alright, Mom."
"No." I shook my head. "My mom used to call me that, when she was drunk."
"Well, you didn't call me that," Tracie said, stroking my satin sleeve. "You didn't. But still, I was so mad. You kept looking at my body, so I decided to mess with you and see what I might get on video. I said, 'Maybe you