Trigger Warnings

This chapter contains emotionally absent father, arguments, blood, some abuse.

Skip through the parts if it does trigger you, I don't want you to feel unsafe.

You have been warned.

It doesn't matter if they're there physically, it's them being there emotionally that matters most.

~ Aurelia's POV ~

The fireworks were so pretty, I loved the different colors that each one had.

I walked home with Miguel and Brady, we were all making jokes about The Black Phone but I was also making jokes about Vance's death because why not.

"How did you get killed by a kidnapper but yet beat up some kid that messed up your game?"

I teased, Brady shrugged his shoulders as he laughed with me.

Miguel was a little silent, it wasn't hard to miss it because you couldn't hear his stupid laugh that made you laugh.

"So Miguel, how'd it feel playing Robin and having thousands of girls drool over you?"

I asked, Miguel looked at me and smiled before explaining how nervous he felt when he first got the role.

Have you ever felt like you fell in love with someone when they begin to rant about something they love? It's like their eyes glow whenever the topic is brought up and you can't help but admire how sweet they look.

"Well, I'll see y'all tomorrow. Try not to die on the way home Brady, the grabber might not have a pinball machine to keep you busy."

Brady raised his middle finger at me before waving goodbye, Miguel gave me a hug and walked away with his friend.

I walked into my house and smiled at my younger sister who was fast asleep on the couch, mom left early with Venus because Vee was feeling a little sick.

I walked upstairs and into my room to grab pajamas and underclothes, I wanted to take a nice shower and wash my hair before getting into bed.

My mom was probably asleep in her room because I didn't see her next to Venus and you can't hear her scream in frustration in the office, so the house was pretty much quiet.

I began to grow happy with the quietness over the years, the yelling of my parents was enough for me to have anxiety everyday and night.

Sometimes I feel like the yelling is there and I somehow managed to silence it, then there's other times where the silence eats me from the inside out.

I got into the shower and let the warm water run down my body, sending goosebumps through my body, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

My mind usually runs wild, I just remember bits and pieces of everything that I've pushed down to forget.

What better place to explain my whole life story than the shower? I mean I can stay in the bath for about two hours before wanting to come out anyways.

So as I begin to wash my body and exfoliate my body, I'll tell you everything and anything about my life and the divorce.

I was nine when the divorce happened, Venus was four.

The marriage was going okay, there was a little bit of arguments but what was a relationship without having any misunderstandings?

Not saying my parents relationship was toxic but the level of arguments was just going up by the second, it was over dumb things as well.

Since I was sort of really young, I couldn't really step in and tell my parents to stop their arguing and to just take some time to breathe, I minded my business and made sure Venus was out of reach during the arguments.

Luckily, the arguments never got too loud nor did it ever get physical.

My dad was somewhat a tough guy, so if he were to hit you then you would be left with a mark to remember it.

I guess my mom was always afraid of arguing with him because she'd apologize for it before anything got out of hand, I understand that as well.

So let's get into the whole divorce thing, my dad had gotten this antique vase that he adored so much but it was really ugly.

Venus and I were playing around it, more like running around it to see who would get dizzy first.

Venus stopped running all of a sudden which made me accidentally crash into her, my body weight was a little heavier than hers which sent her to stumble forward and grip the vase for landing.

The vase fell and broke, shards went everywhere, some landing on Venus as well.

I didn't know what to do, I panicked because I knew my dad was going to kill us if he came home and found the vase broken.

But I didn't want to lie to him either, so i grabbed my younger sister and ran upstairs to the bathroom where I grabbed the first aid kit and began to pick out the shards of the vase out of her skin.

She had three tiny ones stuck in her leg and one medium sized in her arm, I wrapped both her leg and arm with gauze and sent her to her room to pretend she was taking a nap.

I ran downstairs and picked up the broken shards, which were a lot because it shattered.

Waiting for my dad to get home was really nerve wracking, I had called mom to tell her what happened because I know she wouldn't get mad but worried that we got hurt.

So now I was waiting for her to get home before dad so I'd have some type of protection from him, but when the doorknob jiggled after the keys were put in the hole, not even God would save me from this merciless punishment.

My dad isn't a toxic or abusive man, what I had done pushed him over the edge.

I don't put the blame on my younger sister because she just wanted to play with me, I should've went to the backyard to play but I didn't.

The fury of this man was so scary, his eyes bugged out of his head and his veins were popping out when I told him what I had done.

I remember him pulling my arm and dragging me to the kitchen, I shuddered at the memory.

"Are you kidding me?! One simple rule and you couldn't follow it?!"

Those were the words he had told me, all I could do was pray that my mom would arrive before he could do any physical damages.

I didn't want to believe in any thing at this moment, I remember pleading him to leave me in my room but that wasn't allowed.

"Please! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Those were the pleads I screamed, I screamed for him to leave me alone and to forgive me for my actions.

My voice was gone by the next day by how much I screamed, tears streamed down my face as I recalled the incident.

"You're sorry?! You wanna be sorry now?!"

I slowly sunk down to the ground, I curled up in a ball as the water pierced my skin.

The wrath of this man was scary, he had beat me that night.

My mom rushed home and had to break the door down with her foot when the keys kept failing her, the scream she let out when she saw her daughter lay on the ground, spazzing out.

I had mental scars for the rest of my life, that was the reason for the divorce.

The way my bloody lips left a stain on the white kitchen floor, how my bruised arms ached in pain as I tried to crawl away from the punishment and how my legs and palms suffered from burns.

Venus and I grew apart, although she barely remembers the incident, she remembers how I screamed and that's what scared her.

When my father and mother got divorced, I wanted to burn the whole city down because what he did was a result of my doing.

I was sent to therapy for how I self blamed and began to twist everything away from the truth, it took everything inside of my mom not to press charges because of me.

To this day, I resent my father for what he did to me.

A nine year old didn't need to go through that and a four year old didn't need to hear her sister scream for forgiveness.

But after that, it took my dad three years to get visitors rights and a father-daughters day.

You would think he'd be so sorry for everything he did but instead he looked emotionless about everything, I began to feel like I was making everything up but I didn't.

I didn't want to come to him for any type of excitement, but I had to learn that deep down, he loves me.

It doesn't matter if they're there physically, it's them being there emotionally that matters most.

I whispered to myself, I needed a moment to regain the strength to stand up and turn the water off.

But it took a lot of mental strength to let the incident go and to move on without holding any type of grudge.