Old memories began to surface.
Small hands holding his fingers.
Soft laughter that made his empty days feel alive again after his wife died of cancer.
They were the last warmth holding his remaining sanity together, until even that was taken away from him.
'To think there were parents like him. The more he spoke, the more I wanted to gut him.'
He wasn't saying it without basis. Samantha's father kept gaslighting her, making her feel that everything she was, she owed to him.
Which was not true, because she never asked to be born into this world. It was his choice, so he was the one who owed everything to her.
"I hate you!" she finally lost control.
Her father said nothing and simply let her lash out.
"This is why my big brother left us! Because you're too controlling. You think you own us! You don't see us as—"
SMACK!
Her face snapped to the side.
