Uncle Jackie's Favorite

tw: hints at sexual violence

“You want another?”  

“No thank you. I’m okay.” I smiled and continued drinking my coffee. He’d bought me not only this but a slice of cake. Mama always said I was his favorite. He gave the barista my answer and she went away. I was left sitting across from him while he watched me eat.  

“And where do you want to go after this, Lizzy?” He asked. 

“Oh, you don’t have to take me anywhere else.” I shook my head and gestured at everything he’d bought me so far. 

“But I want to. How about we go down to that boutique you like and get you a new dress? Something special for today. Something a bit more mature. You are a teenager now Lizzy.” He looked down at the pink formless dress mama had made for me. At the bows that decorated my braids. I looked at the flats mama had picked out as well. “Thirteen is a big deal.” He looked me over again, this time his eyes lingered over my chest. I grabbed my coffee and took a sip.  

“Okay.” We finished up our coffees and food and left. He put on my favorite music while we drove across town to the boutique Mama used to go to.  

“Alright Lizzy. You can pick out any three dresses you want.” He said looking through his wallet. I smiled. 

“Thank you, Uncle Jack.” I started to head over to a rack of dresses, but he grabbed my hand.  

“Why don’t you look over here Lizzy?” he said, leading me to the other side of the boutique. He looked through the clothes on the rack and then seeing one he liked, pulled it off the rack. It was a black dress cinched at the waist with a flowy skirt. “This one’s nice huh Lizzy?”  

“Um...”  

“I’ll take that as a no.” He laughed. He put it back in its place and flipped through some more. His eyes landed on something, and he pulled a pale blue dress off its hanger. It looked smaller than what I was used to, but Uncle Jack looked insistent. So, I smiled and took it to the changing room with me. The dress was tight and only came halfway down my thighs. It looked like one a classmate had worn to school once. I smiled at my reflection. My hair hanging down my back instead of in braids and my body finally resembling that of the girls in my grade  

“I like this one Uncle Jack.” I said bringing it back out after having changed back.  

“Thats great Lizzy. I brought a few similar ones for you to try too. Next time let me see you in them too.” He instructed, handing me five more dresses. I nodded and took them. The next was a red dress similar to the one I had just tried. Though this one came off the shoulders instead of the puffy sleeves on the blue one. I fixed it so it wouldn’t ride up when I walked and left the changing room. 

“How does this one look?” I said doing a small turn. He nodded. 

“Looks great on you Lizzy.” He smiled and looked me up and down. I went back to the changing room and tried on the next one. A black dress that looked like a long tank top more than anything. I showed him and he said the same thing as he had for the last. The next few dresses were all similar. Tight and short and strapless in varying colors. After I had tried them all on and showed them off, we decided on the three we would take.  

“I think the blue one for sure.” I said holding it up. 

“Oh absolutely.” He nodded, grabbing it from me. “And what about the red one?” 

“That one too.” I agreed, handing it to him. “And I think... The black strapless one.” I handed that one to him as well.  

“Perfect. These ones look best on you if you ask me.” He walked to the register. The cashier started ringing up the few dresses when I spotted a pair of black heels. I went over to them and checked the size. Size five. They were black velvet and not more than an inch or two tall. I knew mama wouldn’t let me wear them if they were too tall.  

“Uncle Jack? Can I get these?” I held the shoes up for him. He smiled and set them on the counter. 

“These’ll go great with your new dress.”  

“Uncle? So, this is your niece? Wow you too look so similar I thought you were her father.” The cashier laughed and handed Uncle Jack his change. He smiled. 

“Well, she’s most certainly like a daughter to me. And I did help her mama raise her. Her daddy passed a few years after she was born.” he said, patting my head. I looked down at my shoes.  

“Aw you poor thing.” She said and wished us a good day as we left.  

Uncle Jack dropped me off at home with my few bags and hugged me goodbye. When I got inside mama had lunch ready.  

“So how was your day out?” she said, not turning from the stove.  

“It was good. Uncle Jack bought me a few new dresses.” I brought the bags to the table to show mama the dresses. 

“Oh wow. Those are nice. He didn’t spend too much did he?” She held each of the dresses up and looked them over. 

“I don’t think so.” 

“Well go ahead and put these away and get ready for lunch. I made your favorite.” She smiled. 

“Hey Lizzy.” Uncle Jack said as I got in the car. Mama had a meeting at work today, so he was picking us up. I put my backpack in the backseat and sat up front.  

“Hey Uncle Jack. Are we going to go get the girls?” I asked about my sisters.  

“Well May has soccer practice today and Sofie went over to her friend's house. So, it’s just us today.” He smiled over at me. He didn’t put any music on during the drive and I had nothing to talk about, so we sat in silence. When we got home I expected him to just drop me off, but he got out with me.  

“I have the keys,” I said to him “I can get in by myself.”  

“I know. I just want to spend a little time with you Lizzy. I have something to show you.” He smiled at me. I nodded and unlocked the door. We went inside and I headed upstairs to change. Then I heard footsteps following me up. I turned around to see Uncle Jack coming up the stairs behind me.  

“What’re you doing?” I asked.  

“I want to show you something Lizzy.” He led me into my room. “You’re Uncle Jackie’s favorite you know.”  

He shut the door behind us, and I screamed.