Chapter 23: Memories

**Trigger Warning** Retelling of finding someone after suicide.

“You are too tough on him” My mother’s voice echoes through the hallway. My father’s laugh booms, filling me with more hatred. I inch closer to the door, taking care to make sure they can’t smell the blood on my back from my most recent beating.

“I’m not raising a daughter, Melody. I am raising a warrior. Warriors are tough.”

“He is thirteen! He isn’t a warrior, he is a boy.”

“He is what I say he is.” he sounds bored with her now.

“He is my son and I get a say in how he is raised.”

A clapping sound fills the air. “And congratulations, you have raised a pansy-ass little bitch who cries to his mommy when daddy looks at him sideways.”

“YOU BEAT HIM WITH A SILVER CHAIN!” she screams at him.

“Did you ever think that maybe it’s not just a lesson for him, but for you, too?” I can hear the smile in his voice. The glee in his sick ‘Gotcha’ moment.

“W-what?” she stutters out, and I know my father is about to break my mother’s hea