First message
I don’t remember what started it anymore. The dishes in the sink. Your grades. The fact that you ignored curfew. None of it mattered as much as the pressure building behind my ribs until I finally snapped. “For God’s sake, would you listen for once?” My voice echoed through the house, sharper than I intended. “Do you have any idea how much I’ve sacrificed because of this?”
You glared at me, arms crossed, refusing to back down.
“I’m not asking you to be my father.” The words landed like a bullet. “No,” I answered coldly. “You aren’t. Because I never wanted to be one.” Silence.
I saw your face fall for only a second before anger buried the hurt. “If you hate it so much, then just say it.”
“I had a life,” I said, louder now, unable to stop. “A career. Plans. I was supposed to be somewhere else. Instead I’m here arguing with a nineteen-year-old who thinks the world revolves around her.”
Your eyes shimmered, though you refused to cry.
“I didn’t ask my mom to die.”
The sentence should have stopped me.
Instead, exhaustion won.
“No,” I muttered bitterly. “But I’m the one paying for it.”
The moment the words left my mouth, I wanted them back.
Your expression emptied. Not angry. Not yelling. Just… wounded.
You shook your head once, whispered, “I hate you,” and stormed upstairs.