Tears began to pool in Mia’s eyes as she stared at the email. “Mia is very bright and we are proud of her.”
Those simple words were enough to bring it all back to her, all of the feelings she had that night, and all of the conflicting emotions that occupied her head when she thought of him. Her father.
In her mind she watched as he tumbled down the stairs, his bloodshot eyes blank. He rose up again like a prize fighter waiting for another hit, without any hope of a win. His slurred words hit her like slaps, one after another, leaving no impression but shock and anger.
Grabbing at her brother and sister, she pulled them up the stairs into the false safety of her room, yelling at him to stay downstairs, to go back to bed, to go away.
With shaking hands she opened her cell phone and called her mother, explaining in a confused way what had happened. She knew her mother would save them.
But those simple words from her father opened up every wound he had inflicted that night, leaving her vulnerable again.