Prologue

“MASON, GET OUT HERE!” My father yelled from the living room, I left my room to meet him, “Go get me a beer from the fridge, I’m exhausted and your brother is being a piece of shit!”

“Yes sir,” I said before going to the fridge and grabbing one of the beers from his six-pack, “Here you go.”

I handed him his beer before leaving to go back to my room to avoid his wrath as much as I could. Ever since mom left, he blamed us for his life going to shit and drowned his sorrows in beer and vodka. To make matters worse, my brother had started spending more and more nights out of the house, causing more problems for me. He’d leave before our father got home and tell me to make up an excuse for why he wasn’t there, only for me to bear the repercussions. 

“Mason, get back here! I wasn’t done with you,” He said after throwing the empty bottle from his previous drink at me, only missing me because of how drunk he was.

“Yes?” I said, walking back to the living room and trying to avoid arguing with him altogether. 

“Why are you such a pushover? I throw a beer bottle at your brother, he’ll at least throw it back at me,” He said as he stood up and got in my face, the stench of alcohol almost making me choke, “Stop being a pussy! You don’t like me drinking? Hit me! Make me stop!!” 

“STOP IT!” I yelled before pushing him trying to make it back to my room, but he had other ideas. 

“HIT ME! I want to know you’re a man and not a pathetic mess,” He said before slapping me across the face.

I knew he wasn’t going to stop unless I did what he wanted and hit him; However, I didn’t want to hit him, as much as I hated everything he was doing to me and my brother, he was still my father. I wanted to go to sleep and not wake up, but he wouldn’t let up. 

“You want me to hit you so bad, why don’t you drink some more? The vodka will hit harder than I ever could,” I said before running for my room, the sadistic twit laughed as I closed the door behind me and moved my dresser to block the door. 

“ONE OF THESE FUCKING DAYS, MASON,” He yelled from the other side of my door, “One of these days I’ll get you to hit me, I’ll break this whole charade wide open if I have to.” 

“Go to bed, Jeff!” I yelled before lying on my mattress for the night, taking solace in the fact that I only had one more month until my mom’s court case would go through, and I would have the chance to be free of my father.