Narrator's pov
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"I'm sure you love your father, I don't know him but he seems like a great person. He had the kind of smile that was inviting, he greets strangers with a hug to make them feel safe. Which is the complete opposite of what he's doing to you" the girl said
"What do you mean?"
"You're under this impression that his way is the right way. Whatever he says, goes"
"It's always been that way"
"And I'm telling you it's not. It's not Melanie, he doesn't have all the knowledge of the universe. He doesn't command the sun to rise every morning and the birds to fleet at the sight of rain. He may be your father, but not your controller. He isn't allowing you to express yourself much less be your own person. He's molding you into what he wants and what he thinks is right but the fact is, his rights doesn't always have to be" Summer said
Melanie surprisingly stayed quiet, listening to the girl's words. Their eyes were still locked on the travelling waves of the clear water
"You're deprived of your own self expression. Do you even know who you are outside of being a Christian. I get that your faith is important but do you actually feel like you know yourself?"
Summer turned to face the girl with her brows stitched together, the brunette had been avoiding her eyes ever since she started talking
"Well?" she asked
"I.... Don't know"
Summer nodded her head gently, understanding the girl's hesitation. It must be so difficult for her to look outside of what she was sculpted to be
To make that choice of wanting to explore what the world had to offer after being told that the world was poison
"My mom threw me out when I was fourteen" Summer mumbled, finally breaking away the girl's attention
"What?" she asked
"She found my phone one time, I tossed it on the bed so I could change my clothes. I was standing right in front of it when I was changing, then one day she just... Rushed in my room. There's been rumors all around that I was gay in school. People started whispering about me when I walked in the halls, eventually people started talking and it reached back to my parents. So she busted into my room and started asking me questions, screaming down my throat like I was a dog on the street that stole her slippers or something. I didn't feel like a person in that time. Then she say my phone... Boy did I wish I locked it"
"What did she find?" Melanie asked
"I... Had a friend.. I used to talk to.. Online"
"What type of friend"
"We weren't together. It was... Just a friend I talked to, we both needed advice from each other and I guess we became each other's therapist" Summer chuckled
"She came to me when she felt overwhelmed and I always talked about the way I felt about women to her"
"And... Your mother read it?"
"She read it all. From the starting, to the final message. God the look on her face still scars me. It was like finding out you killed someone in an accident, her face completely dropped and her eyes drained of any love she had for me. Since then, I've never seen it. That love you had for a child. Your own child. It wasn't there anymore. So she kicked me out right then and there with nothing. Literally nothing but the clothes on my back. For weeks I stayed with Axel's parents. The one set of people that actually cared about me. My neighbors turned their faces and so did my family. I never heard from then again, for all I know... I'm not apart of their bloodline anymore" She said
