My Golden Life

Chapter 3

I was only five when it happened. Three years later, I was still haunted by my actions. Looking in the mirror every day was pretty hard to do some days.  

'You're nothing but a good for nothing thief.' 

That's what I always heard the voices in my head tell me. 

Dad didn't give any comfort to me at all. He would only tell me to toughen up and stop acting so wimpy and even tried to make me do more stealing, planing for me to break into some more houses. He also came up with an idea of break into the chief police officer's house as he heard he had a safe with tonnes of money inside. 

Enough was enough. I couldn't take what Dad was forcing me to do any longer. I wasn't going sit back to allow him to boss me around and make me do things that could ultimately ruin my life. So I decided to do what I should've have done from the very start...tell my mum the truth. It was tough to find the courage to tell her everything. I was petrified about what she would say, as well as think of me. Can you imagine finding out that your daughter, who you had raised to be a respectable person, was a thief and a criminal? I wouldn't know what to say.

It was a warm afternoon when I told her. My dad had taken Daniel to plough the fields while mum and I were preparing dinner. 

I stared at her for a while. I didn't want to let her down like this, but I knew it had to be done. 

"Mum," I said nervously. "There's something you need to know."

She turned and narrowed her eyes at me, placing a plate down on the table.

"What is it?" she asked.

I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. As much as I tried to hold it in, mum could slowly see I was getting upset. 

"Honey? What's the matter, sweetheart?"

Not being able to hold it in any longer, I poured out everything to her.  

At first, she was furious about what I had been doing, then she got incredibly infuriated at dad. The very fact that that he had forced me into doing something like this brought tears to her eyes. Mum then hugged me tight and told me I didn't have to worry anymore. She would sort it out.

Everything changed after that. Mum confronted dad about what I had said,  and the two ended up having a massive argument. I honestly thought that their fighting would stop, but for the next few weeks, they continued to argue. Not just about what he had done, but about pretty much everything. Eventually, mum was fed up with his behaviour and antics. She packed his belongings and threw him out of the house, telling him to never come back. 

Daniel and I and were sat on the stairs when all of this took place. I was eight, and Daniel was four at the time. Apart of me felt responsible for all of this occurring but Daniel reassured me that none of this was my fault. Only his. Dad leaving was the best thing that could have happened to us. We could at last move on, and I could focus on having a better life and doing well for myself.

He was gone from our lives, and I never saw him again... well, that was what I thought anyway. Little did I know that the next few years would soon take a drastic turn.