Dysarthria | Dialogue Story ✔

Chapter 7: Can I Talk To You About Something?

Chapter 7: 𝓒𝓪𝓷 𝓘 𝓽𝓪𝓵𝓴 𝓽𝓸 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰?

Friday, April 8th

"It's not fair! You get to do whatever the fuck you want! You were always dad's favorite and you never had to fight for his approval for anything! In the meantime, I had to work my ass off just to get any kind of acknowledgement from him!"

Jordan put his hands out like he was speaking with a mentally unstable human. "I'm sorry about that. But—" He cut himself off when he saw the anger clouding over his eyes.

Cory's chest was heaving up and down and the muscles in his shoulders tensed. "Why can't you be more like your brother? Why can't you be as smart as your brother? Your brother brought home an A+ on his history test and the best you can do is a C? You have no idea how it feels like to be constantly compared to y—"

His eyes burned with unshed tears and his voice faltered the more he spoke about high school. Cory didn't want Jordan to see him break so he harshly wiped his eyes. "All I want from dad is to hear how proud of me he is. But that's never gonna happen as long as you're the golden child."

Even Jordan was choked up witnessing the tears pool up in Cory's eyes and listening to his spiel. He wished that dad wasn't so hard on him. Jordan had seen how great he was at football and how hard he studied for tests. Dad didn't even acknowledge any of that and the only time he did was when Cory brought a decent girl home and he offered him a pat on the shoulder. Something deep in Jordan's chest ached, but he forced himself to walk out of that house.

Gracie let go of the emotions she'd been taming inside of her as soon as she was in the safety of her room and plopped down on her bed, tears falling onto her pillow and sobs echoing throughout the room.

She thought the bullying ended in elementary school, that once she graduated high school and started to move on with her life, that the bullying would come to an end. The other girls defended her each and every time, commenting on her childish behavior, but that still wouldn't stop her.

Gracie was afraid to report her to the manager because that would make the whole situation even worse. Today crossed the line for her. Addie, the bully, said to Gracie she bet that her own parents wished she didn't exist. Her heart dropped down an endless pit and melancholy had its hands gripped around her chest.

Gracie didn't have a new book to continue writing or edit for an escape. She opened the Wattpad app and searched for good teen fiction that would get her hooked at the first chapter. Gracie could barely read the screen with the tears blurring her vision. Three failed attempts later and she finally gave up.

She didn't have that many YouTube videos to watch so in thirty minutes time, she'd be back to thinking about Addie's words and curling her body into the fetal position.

Cory Walker:
Sent 6:05pm

Can I talk to you about something?

Gracie:
Sent 6:06pm

Can't. I'm busy watching TV. Had a tough day at work. Just want to unwind a little bit.

Cory Walker:
Sent 6:08pm

Can't you unwind by talking with me? I need to get something off my chest.

Gracie:
Sent 6:10pm

Whatever it is, can it wait? I just want to relax.

Cory Walker:
Sent 6:14pm

I'm sure whatever it is, it's not as bad as the shit that I'm dealing with. You can take five minutes out of your time to talk to me.

Gracie:
Sent 6:14pm

Uhhhh...bitch?

Who the hell do you think you are??

Cory Walker:
Sent 6:21pm

Whatever. I'm done with you. Have fun watching your dumbass TV.