The Way It Is [#OpenNovellaContest2019]

• Chapter Six •

Robert put his head in his hands.

"Yes. Yes it could."

He looked up again, at Faiths curious face.

"What happened... next?"

Robert sighed. "You're mother didn't like the idea. Neither did I, but I had to. We needed money, and as soon as we had enough to be financially stable, I'd get out of there.

"But it was so much easier said than done. This wasn't really a gang, it was more of a cult. They worshipped a "Great Power" and thought "sinning" was right and it pleased this Power. That's why they sold the drugs and alcohol. They thought it was right.

"And that's what I got wrapped in. Those are the "friends" who come and get drunk here. I have to go along with it, because in order to get out of the gang, you have to be completely one hundred percent "trustworthy", or something. Anyway, my release ritual is coming up, and I can't screw up now."

Robert started to cry softly.

"I almost screwed up once. A long time ago. If I would've screwed up, they would've killed our entire family."

Faith rubbed her fathers shoulders. She was having a hard time swallowing all of this information. She didn't remember any of this. The only thing she remembered was seeing her dad hit her mom, and then the next day... her mom and Katy were gone.

"If I may ask...", Faith asked slowly. "What did you almost screw up doing?"

Robert shook his head.

"I... the rest of the "gang" was over here; we were drinking. You and your mother walked in... just as one of the other guys threw a beer bottle that had the top broken off. He hit you on your arm, and that's how you got that scar."

Faith looked at the thin white scar on her arm just below her shoulder, tracing it with her finger.

"I thought you said a cat scratched me?"

"Well," Robert said. "We couldn't tell you the truth, you were six."

Faith nodded. That still didn't explain why she didn't remember any of this.

"After your mother had gotten you to stop bleeding, she came into the dining room and chewed me out. She didn't know she was making things worse at the time, though.

"When I wouldn't yell back at her, the guys got suspicious. Saying stuff like "maybe he's a softie", and "maybe he needs to add an extra year or two to his job" and stuff. Your mother heard what they were saying, and whispered so that only I could hear "hit me". Obviously, I didn't want to.

"But the guys were watching me. I had no choice. I had to make sure I was "trustworthy", or what they called trustworthy at least.

"So I hit her. And then I heard crying."

Robert wiped his eyes.

"You has seen it Faith. You had seen me hit your mother. And you never looked at me the same way again. Of course, it was my fault, because I had gotten involved in this whole thing in the first place. So I deserved to be hated."

Faith was shocked. All her life since she was six she thought her father had been a cold hearted shell of a man who beat her mother and didn't care about her or her sister. Now she was learning so much more.

"Why did..." she hesitated. Should she ask? She had to. "Why did mom and Katy leave?"

Robert put his head back in his hands.

"In hitting your mother, I made things worse. The gang thought I did it regularly now, and they expected to see it more. If I didn't, they would think I was weak. So I told her "if you want us to live, you might have to live somewhere else". She was confused, but once I explained the situation to her, she understood.