Page 127 of Off-Limits

None of it is making any sense, but the more I read through the paperwork, the more I come to realise the signatures aren’t the same. Scrunching up my face, I skim over the documents, finding exactly what I’m looking for, and it makes my blood boil.

Not only was he being fraudulent with the insurance company, but he was also pushing mum to get more money for what her father did to her, her even though he’s been dead for ten years. The constant pain and memories she would have had to continue reliving must have been excruciating, and the fact that she isn’t here so I can apologise, or even hug her, hurts me more than I want to admit.

My dad is a lying fucking pig.

Slamming the draw shut, a syringe falls free, followed by another, and a choked sob escapes my mouth before I can stop it. She was using again, which means dad was too. I wonder what humiliating shit he made her do this time in order to get his next hit.

Closing my eyes, I force myself to stay here in the moment and not wander off aimlessly down the broken and decayed yellow brick road I once lived along. When I feel under control, I open my eyes, intent boiling my blood to octane levels, as I storm out of the room.

I can feel Damon and Arrie’s eyes on me, their energy like a lifeline to me that I hold onto as I force myself to confront my first love, other than my mother, the man who should have loved me back and should have shown me how a man should treat a woman, alas, I was cursed with a prick of a father with a chip on his selfish bloody shoulders.

I kick his foot, and he jolts awake, trying to focus his eyes on me.

“What in the actual fuck is this, dad?”

Propping himself up on his elbow and closing one eye, he squints at the papers in my hands, swaying on the damn couch he’s balancing on. It takes him a few seconds to latch onto what I’m holding, but I see the exact moment it registers.

He’s fucked up.

“What do – do you think you’re doing snooping around my shit, girl?”

“What’s going on here?” Damon questions, and I hear the undercurrent of rage he’s trying to tamper down.

“It’s none of your fuuuckking business, Woods! How about you worry about your kid, instead of screwing mine.”

I feel my face blanch, but it quickly turns hot when I see what my father is trying to do. Again. Take the attention away from him, by attempting to humiliate me once more.

Not today, Satan. Not to-fucking-day.

I put my arm out to stop Damon from stepping forward, and his hard chest hits my forearm. He inhales a deep breath before releasing it, placing his hand at the base of my spine in reassurance and understanding.

“Like you looked after me, dad? I call bullshit. Stop deflecting because if you don’t tell me what the hell is going on this minute, I will walk so fast out this door and never return.”

It’s a bluff of course. Once I find out his reasonings, I am out. There is nothing keeping me here and he’s betrayed, humiliated and lied to me for the last time. I’m sick of being his punching bag, and for somewhere for him to wipe his damn feet on.

“You – you need me!” he yells, sitting upright and lighting a cigarette.

“The fuck she does.” Arrie seethes, coming to stand beside me.

Her anger and frustration is palpable, and when she linksher hand in mine for strength, my chest puffs out and the anxiety I was feeling bubbling beneath the surface dissipates into nothing.

“You fucking your cousin too? Figures. You are a slut, just like your mother.”

Before I realise what I’m doing, my hand connects with his face, the sound reverberating off the weatherboard walls, followed by a gasp and a dark chuckle beside me.

Arrie and Damon.

I hit my dad.

I know he’s going to blow his lid, but I’m not scared of him anymore.

“You’ve lied to me for the last fucking time, dad. I am not a little girl anymore, and I have grown to find that I no longer need your approval, acceptance, or love. You are a vile piece of shit. A waste of energy, but the worst thing out of all of this is, mum died protecting and loving you until she no longer could, and all you did was torment her.”

I let out a bitter laugh.

“Did mum know that you weren’t sick, that you were deceiving her as well, so she wouldn’t leave you? Did she know the documents you showed her were forged?”

“You know nothing, you ungrateful bitch!”