Emma lay on the floor, the email from her father still glaring at her from the phone screen. Memories she had long buried began to resurface, each one more painful than the last.
She was seven years old again, clutching her favorite teddy bear as she hid behind the couch. Her father’s drunken roars echoed through the small house, followed by the sickening sound of flesh meeting flesh. Her mother’s cries filled the air, desperate and pleading. Emma covered her ears, tears streaming down her face as she wished for it all to stop.
Her father, a towering figure with a perpetual scowl, would stumble through the door every night, reeking of alcohol. Emma’s heart would pound in her chest, fear gripping her small body as she anticipated the horrors to come. He would scream at her mother, accusi
