Just hearing her voice makes me want to cry. Emotional trauma responses are fucking dumb. I wish there were a way to stop them.
I really wish I could have prepared for this.
“Get used to it. This is the real me. Without guilt weighing me down. I should have approached this topic a long time ago, but I was too afraid. That’s no longer a concern.” Aaron’s intense anger is palpable, even from the other side of the door.
“I don’t fucking understand. You’re being ridiculous.” That’s my father’s voice, Bob. “She’s not even a Jackson.”
Who’s not a Jackson?
“What the fuck did you just say?” Aaron sounds shell-shocked.
“Bob! Stop!” Elaine shouts.
“He deserves to know the truth. Maybe he’ll stop this nonsense. You’ve been wanting to tell him for a long time, so tell him, Elaine. Tell your son what you did.”
“Please, stop.” Elaine’s voice comes out broken.
“Someone better tell me what the hell is going on.”
“Tell him about the time when you were a whore.”
Wow.
“What the fuck, Dad!”
I need to go in there and comfort my brother before he does something he’ll regret.
Tristan takes a step forward, trying to peek through the door, but Dominik grabs his arm and stops him.
Every inch of my skin feels pricked, and I can barely hear anything over my thundering heart.
“Bob, don’t.”
“Zoe is not your full sister.”
Pitch-black silence.
“What?” Aaron shouts.
Silence.
My heart feels like it’s going to jump out of my throat at any second.
Elaine is crying.
“She is your half-sister. Your father has never let me forget the one mistake I made, and it’s okay, because I deserve it. I deserve to be reminded of what I did.”
Bob is not my father?
What?
“What the actual fuck, Mom.”
“She slept with some guy, and he got her pregnant. That’s why that spawn looks nothing like me. She’s not mine, and she will never be mine. Every day I had to look at her face and bereminded of what your mother did. How she tried to ruin our family,” Bob spews. I guess he’s not my father.
Never has been.
“You better watch your mouth, or I’m going to punch your teeth in.” Aaron seethes, his temper growing.
