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" who am I, Betty?" Hal cooper asks, crouched in front of his teen daughter who was falling apart at the seems. Tears started to blur her vision as she slowly realized, she was no longer looking in the eyes of her father, but of a monster.
" say it" she gently shook her head. The father daughter dance, 2nd grade. He had been working late and arrived to the dance an hour after it had started. She still remembers the feeling of seeing him tuning into the hall, a clear line of sweat formed around his brow and upper lip. She remembers the smile that quickly flew on her face. The feeling of jumping off her chair and running into his embrace, him on his knee holding her tightly while hoisting her up into the air. The way he called her pumpkin and apologized for being late, she remembers forgiving him instantly and letting him sway every bad thought away-
" say who I am!" He snaps, yelling and slightly plunging forward. Her mouth opens slightly, a tear rolling down her face. It was a crisp fall evening when he taught her to ride a bike. They stood at the end of her street, orange and yellow leaves lingering on he ground. Her pink Barbie bike and matching helmet seeming so menacing to the eyes of a 5 year old. Her small hands gripped the handle bars like a life line, the single hand on her back supplying all the comfort in the world.
" you got this kiddo" he says confidently before she starts to pedal and his hand slowly lets her go. She looks down smiling when she sees that she's doing it. She turns around to look at her father, put her balance falters and she tumbled to the ground. Her fathers heavy footsteps jogging towards her give her some hope that everything's gonna be ok. He takes her hands, standing her up before whipping all the dorky off of her knees.
" your ok, daddy's got ya" He says pulling her into his arms as she cries before walking her inside and putting a bandaid on a small scratch on her leg.
The memory sickens her now.
"your the black hood" she whispers. Every milkshake they shared at pops, every ice skating lesson, every time he hoisted her up to put the star on top of the Christmas tree, every late night trip to some store she asked to go to, even though he worked all day. Every memory is being ripped apart in her mind. Every drop of love she felt for her father being drained from her heart, leaving her unable to breathe. Her father was being torn away from her, and being destroyed in front of her very eyes, she couldn't take it. But she continued to look in his eyes, the eyes that had brought her comfort over and over again now sending shivers down her spine, and making her mind wave red flags.
"That'sright" He says nodding. The last strand of hope in her snapping, why didn't he just say no. She senses her mother stiffen in the couch from her place in the armchair. She feels a dampness from under her hand, her fingernails have been so tightly wound into her own flesh they bled into the fabric of the chair, wetting the material.
