He’s dressed in a sweat-stained t-shirt and some old jeans. His dark hair is slicked back like he’s been running his hands through it, and his wide eyes are bloodshot. His presence is a shock considering he’s been gone, but what’s even more startling is the sour smell of alcohol that oozes from his pores. It singes my nose, burning as the scent wraps around me.
“I’ve been so fucking good to you,” Dad shakes his head before slapping the brochure down onto the crowded kitchen island.
I swallow, emotions clogging my throat as my hands begin to shake. “Dad—”
He closes in on me, his heavy, quick steps eating the distance between us as my hands come up on reflex. He crowdsme back into the door, and panic grips my system. His face twists in disgust, and as he berates me, spit lands on my cheek. “You think you’re too good for this fucking town, huh?! I give you a roof over your head, and this is how you repay me? Leaving just like your whore of a mother did.”
I stammer, stumbling over my words as I fight to calm him down. “It-It’s college, Dad. I don’t think I’m too good—”
The slap he delivers causes my head to whip to the side as I bite down on my tongue. Pain sears into me, and I whimper as he gets close to my face.
“You can barely survive this, Rosalie.” He spits cruelly. “How do you expect to survive the real world?”
My mouth moves as tears spill down my cheeks, but no sound comes out. Formulating a sentence is impossible when I don’t know how to defend myself.
I’m trapped.
He grabs my throat, his fingers biting into my windpipe as I choke. My hands fumble with his wrist, clawing away at him as he shoves me against the door until the back of my head smacks painfully against the wood.
“You think you’re too good for me? Huh?! I’ll show you what you are, Rosalie.” He growls before tossing me to the floor. My nose hits, sending pain shooting through my face as I scramble to pick myself up. I lift onto my arms, my ears ringing.
“You’re fucking nothing!” Dad yells over me, causing my joints to lock up in fear as my vision blurs. He crouched beside me, grabbing a fistful of my hair before wrenching my head back. “Just like your god damned mother. You want to follow in her footsteps? I’ll do to you what I should have done to her years ago.”
He releases me, and I nearly buckle to the floor as a broken sob crests past my trembling lips.
I have to get up.
I have to move.
“Don’t fucking cry now,” Dad tuts, sounding like he’s onthe brink of insanity. He flips the trash can’s lid with a flick of his wrist, sending the plastic tumbling across the kitchen as he digs out a shard of glass from the broken mirror.
He holds it up, and the light glinting off of it causes my heart to rev in fear. I scramble back, lifting my hands as I plead for him to stop. “Dad! Dad, please—”
He sneers as he stalks towards me. There’s no light in his dead, dim eyes as he glowers down at me like some sick god tormenting his own creation. “You look so much like her, but not for long.”
I scream as he covers me, dropping to his knees as he attempts to pin my kicking legs. I thrash wildly, taking unknowing swipes near his face to get him off. He uses a knee to trap my thigh, and I plant my hand over his mouth before shoving him back with as much force as I can.
“STOP!” I shout when he doesn’t budge.
“I’m doing this for your own good!” He grits before his hand slices over my throat, and there’s a stinging pain that follows. The cut is shallow and just under my chin, but as I feel warmth trickle down my neck, something snaps in me.
My skin buzzes with energy and power I didn’t know I had as my mind bellows for me to get away. I know it’s my adrenaline coursing through my veins, but it’s what I need to save myself.
I plant a foot into his abdomen and kick with all my might. It sends my dad flying back, and the glass shatters on the floor, mixing with the splatters of my blood.
“Ungrateful bitch!” He shouts, jolting me out of my shock. I scramble up before launching myself at the front door.
An iron grip closes around my ankle, and I screw my eyes shut as I kick him in the face. He yelps, releasing me as his hand covers his bleeding nose. Those cold eyes trail to me, and a shiver wracks my spine at the fury I see in them. “You’re going to fucking regret this one day, Rosalie. You’re nothing without me!”
His words cut deep, digging into the cavity of my self-confidence and picking at the already tattered fragments like a vulture. It hurts to hear the bitter resentment my father harbors towards me, but I know it would hurt even worse to stay.
I can’t, or he’ll kill me.
I head out into the humid summer night, clamping my hands over my ears as my father screams at me to come back. With every step, his voice becomes a distant, haunting echo, ricocheting around my head until it’s all I can hear, even though he’s a mile behind me.
Those horrid words grip me in a tight fist, squeezing the breath from my very lungs as my tennis shoes slide along the asphalt.
You look so much like her, but not for long.
