Letters to Anonymous | ✔️

strength

"You've been out all night." Claire's father said in an accusing tone.

"Y-yes. I-" She began to think of an excuse, a reflex for her, but then she pushed herself to stand up and be unafraid. "Yes, I was."

Unsure of how it was possible, but her father's angry expression seemed to grow more angrier. "Why? You are not allowed to be out, period."

Bracing herself, she mentally gave herself words of encouragement as she answered. "You're not allowed to shut me up in this house. I have a life."

An amused smile spread on his face and he took a swig of the beer in his hand before taking a few steps towards Claire. "You do?"

Feeling fear surge through her body, her lips trembled, but she urged her bravery forward. "Y-yes. Yes, I do." She said, "I have friends that I want to spend time with."

Letting out a cynical laugh, her father took the last gulp of the beer before throwing the bottle near Claire. She jumped at that and felt her heart beat faster and her resolve grow weaker.

You only started, Claire, keep going. You have to keep going for yourself. For yourself. For yourself.

She repeated the last two words to herself several times, gathering the strength in her resolve.

"And which friends do you have, huh?" He asked. "Is it Anne's daughter? Lenina's daughter? Leanne's? Jasmeen's? Florence's?" He asked, with a smirk. He was taunting Claire and she knew he knew it would bother her. He wasn't wrong. Her mind was beginning to heat up and she wanted him to stop talking, to stop mentioning all the names of the families he'd broken. All the friends she'd lost. "Even then, how do you have friends? Do they know how dirty you are? That you're tainted by your dad? Do they know?"

"Yes! They do know!" Claire yelled all of a sudden, her emotions getting out of her control. "Is that what your wanted to hear?"

A wicked grin spread on his lips. "So they know how disgusting you are, then."

Anger like she never felt before swam through her head, her heart, her entire body. "Not really, daddy. They all only feel sorry for me for having a father like you. You're the disgusting one. It's actually pretty amusing to see that you assume you're giving me the terrible reputation. You can wipe that smile off your face because you couldn't be more wrong. You must be insane to think that after all that you do, you don't see how much disgust people send your way." A sudden thought went through her head and a heavy load of hurt sat at her heart. In a much quieter voice, she asked, "is this why you've become the way you are?" She asked and thoughts ran wild in her head. "You hurt me and everyone around you because you want to ruin me?"

"Don't think you're so f***ing special." He took a large stride and gripped Claire by her throat, squeezing it. "Do you know why I kept you? Because your b**** of a mother didn't take you with her." He yelled and Claire struggled with her breath, but still understood what he was saying. She tried prying his fingers off her throat, but he kept a tight grip. "I'm the better parent! I took care of you! And you repay me like this? By disrespecting me?!" He yelled and shoved her into wall before grabbing a hold of her neck again. "By allowing people to speak of your father this way?!" He yelled again and then threw her against the wall again.

Claire's hands immediately went to where he had held her and she took deep breaths to regain the oxygen his hands had denied her. Angry tears in her eyes, she looked at him with pure hatred. "You didn't raise me; I raised myself! You're not my father! You might have been many years ago in the past, but not now, and you never will be!" She yelled, in between breaths.

After letting everything she wanted to out, she didn't know what to feel as she saw her dad reaching for an empty bottle from the sofa.