Future: The shadow monster accident

"Got your shadow!"

Augustine lifted her arms to turn her shadow into a monster that swallowed her daughter's shadow whole. Rica squealed with delight and ran off along the grass, Augustine chasing her with arms in the air. That was when Rica ran right into a bush.

She plopped down on the ground, surprised for a second before she started to scream. The guards that watched them but usually kept out of their way so that Augustine could pretend things were normal, hurried up to them. Augustine waved them off to give her a minute, wanting her to feel the pain and to discuss it.

"You okay, Rica?"

She waited for Rica to make the first move. Rica turned towards her, eyes shimmering, a large red mark between them that scratched along her face. "No…" and then she started to cry again until Augustine picked her up and kissed it better. There'd be no hiding that mark from Eddie. He'd be pissed when he saw it. Her stomach roiled. No used projecting that onto her daughter.

"Be brave," she whispered. "You're tough, aren't you?"

Rica sniffed. "I'm not tough."

"Yes, you are. Just like your father. You know, when you were first learning to walk, every time you fell down, you got up again. You were so focused on your goal. Because you're so tough. Like your father."

How much of that did Rica even buy? But she wanted to believe it. She wanted to be like her father, so strong and tough. "I'm really like dad?"

Augustine smiled at her warmly, pulling her in for a hug. "Of course, you are! So smart and so tough!"

A part of her hated the manipulation, but she had to make her daughter want to be tough because the other option was to be too soft, to let herself be nothing but protected which Augustine instinctively knew would stunt her emotions. Ed and his people were too quick to shelter her and protect her from everything to the detriment of other people. Already, Ed would be pissed about her being hurt, and if Rica noticed, saw the power in her own being to control a powerful individual such as her father, she was bound to push it as far as it would go. Someone would be hurt, and she, if she were truly like her father, might enjoy it.

Her daughter poked at her own wound, giving a small start. Augustine held her hands. "Don't worry. We'll clean it up, so it won't sting too much, okay? But you can't touch it."

Ed would be mad when he saw it. He'd want to know who caused it, another child? Some thoughtless adult who pushed her? What would he say when he realized that it had been her who'd ultimately caused it? Maybe he'd laugh about it unless he was having a bad day and then he'd more likely be annoyed.