𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐎𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐭

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞.

⊗TW: this chapter contains abuse.⊗

A U T U M N ' S P O V

Arriving home from work at 8:15pm, I quietly take my shoes off and put them to the side. I managed to get a bagel from work for my dinner which I'll be eating in my room later, if I have the time or appetite.

Quietly making my way to the stairs, I'm startled by my dads voice calling my name from the kitchen.

Letting in a shaky breath, I carefully make my way into the kitchen. My father sits there on a stool by the island with a joint in between his fingers.

Typical.

"Autumn, baby, how was school?" He blows smoke into the air as he smiles sweetly at me that I know by now it's fake.

"Yeah, it was alright." I mumble quietly, looking down at the floor.

"Common, baby, speak up. Daddy just wants to know how his baby girl is doing." He fakely smiles again as he starts to walk over to me.

My heart immediately pumps rapidly in my chest as I take a step back, not wanting to be anywhere near him.

"Why the fuck are you moving away? Come to me right now." He demands.

Terrified of what he'll do, I slowly step towards him. He stands right in front of me as he cups my face.

"You're so beautiful, Autumn." He smirks as he kisses my forehead. The smell of weed burns in my nose as I try to hold in my tears and steady my breathing.

"Wanna make some pasta with me?" He says as he grabs my wrist harshly and pulls me towards the stove.

He gets all the ingredients out and I anxiously stand waiting for him to do something.

I know shits going to go down when he starts acting nice.

He continues to get the ingredients out and places them all on the counter top. He pours hot water into the pan and then begins to make the pasta.

We stay in an uncomfortable silence as he continues making the pasta, occasionally taking a few drags of his joint.

Still awkwardly standing in the corner, I decide to tidy up, because I know he'll make me do it later, so I may as well get it over and done with now.

He's sitting by the kitchen island on his phone as I begin to cautiously put the items away in the cupboards.

As I'm leaning over to grab something, I accidentally knock over the pan, causing the pasta and water to spill everywhere.

My dads head immediately snaps up. "What the fuck did you just do?" He bellows as I frantically pick up the pan.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, really, I was trying to be helpful and clean up—" I'm cut off with my dad storming over to me and slaps me across the face.

"Helpful?! What the fuck is wrong with you, you fucking cunt." He shouts in my face as he grabs onto my hand and slams it on top of the stove that's turned off, thankfully, but still is scorching hot.