Tim saw the light was on as he pulled into the drive and tried to imagine the argument he felt sure was coming. He didn't have the energy. His shifts were getting harder with more work and responsibility being given to him every day as more and more people were being laid off. And always the threat of the plant closing entirely and his job going to China, or India or he didn't even know where. There was no more third shift and second shift would almost certainly be shut down soon. Would he be moved to days? Or just let go?
He got out of the car and steeled himself for the confrontation with his daughter. He had given her his ultimatum, there was nothing left to say. But he was not prepared for what he saw as he opened the front door. Amy was standing in her pajamas in the middle of the room, a straight back kitchen chair next to her a card of some kind on the seat. Her head was bowed and her hands, clasped in front her, held a hair brush. It was her mother's flat backed hairbrush. The one she used when disciplining Amy as a child.
He sat down and stared. She looked like a little girl, his little girl. Amy took a deep breath and tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach.
"Daddy, I am so sorry for the way I've behaved lately. I know mom's death has hit you hard and I've done nothing but make it worse, going to bars and staying out with boys. driving drunk and being so hateful; Daddy, you don't even want to know some of the things. If I could undo everything I've done over these past months, believe me, I would." Her eyes were brimming.
"You have to believe me when I say I love you and I never want to hurt you. I don't know what makes me do the things I've been doing. Somehow I think I blamed you for mom's death, even though I know it wasn't your fault. It's as if I've lost the star that I steered by, nothing makes sense anymore." she paused and swallowed hard.
"I need a drink." he said and got up. She exhaled.
He picked up the card on the chair and saw it was her driver's license. This puzzled him until he noticed the date of birth was 4 years before she was actually born. Her fake ID. He put it in his pocket and got a glass and some ice from the fridge. He went to the liquor cabinet and filled the small glass with bourbon. Returning to his recliner he took off his shoes and socks and leaning back he took a long satisfying sip of the cool amber liquid, relishing the mild burning sensation in his mouth and throat.
"Daddy please don't make me leave. Like I said I don't know what makes me do the things I do but I'm afraid of what might happen if I were on my own with no one to care about me or what I was doing. I need you, Daddy. And now that mom is gone I think you need me too. Not the me I've become lately but your daughter, the one you love and who loves you."
Tears were flowing down both cheeks now and she was having trouble speaking.
"I want us to start over, Daddy. To go back to the way we were. I need you to forgive me for everything so that we can start again. But I know that first I have to pay for what I've said and done to you. I need to be punished for my behavior so we can begin again. I want you to punish me."
He didn't speak. He finished his drink, got up and padded into the bedroom. Moments later she heard him go into the bathroom and the shower come on.
She was in agony waiting for her father to finish in the bathroom but she accepted it as part of her punishment and never moved from her spot. After what seemed like hours he came out in his pajamas. His hair was damp and he smelled like soap. He looked at her.
"All right." was all he said as he sat down in the straight backed chair. Amy handed her father the hair brush and with knees shaking she lowered the pants of her PJs and laid herself across his lap.
He laid the brush on the floor not intending to use it. Her speech and her tears had touched him so deeply he couldn't bear the thought of causing his little girl serious pain. A token bare-handed spanking and a long hug, some tears and that would be enough, he thought. He was just happy he had his daughter back.
But as she lay there waiting, her PJ top slid up revealing the tattoo on her lower back. An upside down triangle; some sort of Celtic knot, the apex pointing directly to the cleft of her bottom. Tramp stamp? Isn't that what the guys at work called it? It looked like the pin striping he sometimes saw on the fenders of big rigs on the interstate. But as he stared at it he could see that it wasn't just a knot, some of the lines were actually forming misshapen letters.'S*L*U*T'. She was a slut. His baby girl was a whore and proud enough of it to have it permanently imprinted on her body.
He felt all the anger and frustration of the past several months rise in him and he brought his hand down hard on her panty-clad bottom. He spanked her vigorously with his hand and she took the first 20 or so stoically, gritting her teeth trying not to move or cry out. But soon she couldn't help herself and began to squirm and cry with pain. Her hand involuntarily came back to protect her bottom and he grabbed it and pulled it up behind her. She clenched her cheeks and he felt how firm and resilient the flesh was.
After several minutes he stopped and took hold of the waistband of her panties and tugged at them. She lifted her hips allowing him to expose her ass and slide them down her legs to her ankles. What little protection they had provided was gone and the sudden cooler air on her hot skin accented how vulnerable and exposed she was. He bent down to pick up the hair brush and between her slightly parted legs he glimpsed her pussy. It was shaved.
Unable to control his anger and his pain he went to work on the plump mounds of her bottom with a fierceness that surprised him. Amy was screaming and crying as the brush rained down again and again and again on her outraged flesh.
Eventually she was unable to fight any longer and submitted to the pain, taking it in and embracing it, helplessly letting it wash away her crimes and her guilt. Lying limp and motionless as the blows landed relentlessly she seemed to leave her body and view it from above. She was taking in great droughts of air and letting them out in long racking sobs.
Tim had watched the skin of her bottom go from pink to red to crimson and now dark purple patches were forming. He stopped then and let go of the brush.
He and Angela had long ago agreed that spanking was to be a last resort and to be used only to correct behavior, not to vent anger. Horrified he realized that that's exactly what he had done.
Amy was crying like a little girl, sobbing uncontrollably and forming words that he could only half make out "...so sorry..." "...please...".
He picked her up and held her in his lap and let her cry herself out, patting her back and making 'shushing' noises.
When at last she had calmed down and her breathing had returned to almost normal with occasional little hiccups, he said.
"I'm sorry I hit you so hard, I don't know what happened to me."