You Would Never Know

VI | Haunted and Taunted

Gradually, the cold rushes seemed to go away, slowly being replaced by the warmth of my wrath. "Are you sure?" I got closer, trudging on the sensitivity of our heart strings. "I said, are you sure?" My voice raised an octave this time, threatening his cowering being to utter careful words.

Pitiful he looked, and in the middle of my wrath, I was sympathetic enough to remain grounded, but that could only last for a bit. "You can't answer simple questions anymore, can you?" I started taking slow, steady steps toward him to get rid of any gap between us.

My face was close to his, and I made sure his eyes never deviated from mine. "You know I love you, right? I care for you a lot too, but this love and this care won't be enough when you keep acting like this." He frantically nodded his head. "Yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am, I know." His eyes started to tear up as he kept repeating the same words.

"If you know that, then why do you keep testing me?" He looked away, and I firmly yet not harshly made him look back at me, saying, "Imagine a tank filled with patience, and slowly, it starts to go empty, and as someone who's been patient for too long, do you think I'd want to fill it again? With the same patience that turned me into an empty vessel. My patience is running thin, and I cannot deal with this pain anymore, and you yourself know that. You know that if what you're saying is true, it will end with you replacing your son's place in his grave." He kept nodding while crying. "Yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am, I'm aware—"

I shushed him shut, saying, "No, you're not. Because if you are, none of that would've happened in the first place." I stepped away, not handling any form of contact from him, someone I viewed as a guardian in a sea of neglect.

"If you knew, then we wouldn't be here." I shook my head. "Do you even realize how you're going against everything you said before?"

Running my hand through my hair, I spoke, "I told you—I told you in detail too—that when I visited, I didn't find his body, and you went to confirm and dared to come back and tell me that you saw him with your bare eyes."

By now, the coldness and lack of control over my irregular breath or heartbeat seemed to return, and the previous shaking was no longer limited to my palms, but it seemed like everything couldn't be stabilized.

Every fiber of my body is familiar with the intensity of this situation we're in, and it's alerting me to do something, anything.

If he's alive, then for sure he will come after me and every single person I hold dear. And if I thought he was controlling before, I don't want to imagine what will happen now.

All of this wouldn't have happened if it weren't for this idiot in front of me.

I had the chance to finally free myself and many others from him, but I missed it, and now I don't know if it's my shadow or him that's following me.

Without a doubt, my eyes were looking at him like I could murder him any second, and I believe I had the right to say, "You can't keep doing this to me; you've done enough." I said as I finally let go and silently let out the tears that dribbled on my cheeks.

He got closer, pulling me closer to his agonizing arms. "I'm sorry, I really am. I know there were so many times I should've stopped him, but my ignorance was your downfall.

There were many times I saw how he was treating you. I should've stepped in, but I was too blinded by the love and adoration I held for him.

I really am sorry, and there's no way I could ever bring back time for you to enjoy your youth and present the way you're supposed to." His shaky voice was filled with emotions—emotions I used to think he'd never show me—one of which was sympathy. Especially when his son would be too busy inflicting pain and black and blue bruises on my soul.