Ghosts from the past

This is a fanfic based off of Dave Pelzers, A Child Called It, The Lost Boy, and A Man Named Dave. These books are true stories based off of Pelzer's traumatic childhood. I decided to take the father character and create a fictional storyline based on his life  after he left Dave’s mother. This story isn’t told in the fathers perspective but is told from the perspective of the victim similar to Pelzer's books. In Pelzer's books the father is described as being a weak, frequently drunk father, who rarely stands up to Catherine Roerva Pelzer, his wife(the abuser in Pelzer's books) In my story because Stephen( the father) had no power in his previous marriage it leads to him seeking that validation and  becoming the abuser in his new marriage continuing the cycle of abuse he attempted to leave in his past.

Abilene- 

I remember the day I realized my life wasn’t perfect. The happy life my parents pretended to live began to fade. It was like a wallpaper peeling off of a wall revealing all of its flaws. Everything was seemingly perfect; My parents had money, I went to a good school, and my parents had a ‘happy’ marriage. My dad was a firefighter and my mother was an attorney. They were successful and from an outsiders point of view we were perfect.

My mother pretended to be a vibrant, and happy woman. Then she changed, it was like the façade she had put up with for so long was eating away and she couldn’t take it anymore. When I was younger she covered up her bruises, she concealed her puffy eyes, and she always hid her agony with a smile. But she stopped hiding it, in a way it was like she stopped caring. Once that happened, she stopped protecting me.

My Dad started coming home drunk spending his days drinking instead of working. Month after month we had less and less money. When they couldn’t pay the bills he blamed me for needing food and new clothes. Day after day, week after week, and month after month he found a reason to blame us for his issues. Because my father inevitably found a reason to blame me for our money issues I tried not to ask for stuff but I couldn’t fit my freshman year clothes anymore. So when my Dad came home I made the dreaded discussion of asking for some money to buy clothes. When I asked he didn’t say anything he just looked at me in disbelief like I had some audacity to need new clothes after three years. Then he started screaming, 

“ You know we don’t have money, why would you even ask?!” He seemed to be so enraged by my question. He raised his arm and slapped me. I felt his heavy hand lash across my face. I fell to the floor in shock. I knew my father was violent toward my mother but I never thought he would actually hit his own child. Tears began to stream down my face. I heard a large thud, my father had fallen to the floor, then I noticed he was crying. I was confused as to why. Then suddenly everything went black… 

- Nyla Kyles