I’m a complete fucking idiot.

It all started four years ago. I got off work like usual, and while driving home, I stopped at a gas station. Everything was fine that night; I got out to buy cigarettes, and as I was heading back to my car to go see my girl, I saw them.

A guy and his girlfriend. They seemed to be arguing. As I got closer to my car, I could hear them more clearly, and then… BAM. He slapped her, and I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.

I acted on impulse. I’ve always hated seeing women get hurt; as a son, I hate when women are treated like that… So yeah, maybe I went a little too far. I beat the shit out of him.

But that wasn’t the worst part. The bitch defended the asshole who had just given her a black eye. And what happened? I got six years in prison.

The worst part was being away from my son and my girlfriend… My son, Kellan, four years old, and my girlfriend, who was six months pregnant at the time. Of course I missed my baby’s birth because of a stupid mistake, because I got involved in something that, in the end, didn’t change anything.

Now, as I walked down the hallway with a prison guard behind me, I felt a knot in my stomach just knowing I was about to see my girlfriend and our kids. I had already been rotting in here for four years, and it was hard seeing them just once a week, knowing they were growing up without me.

When we reached the visitation area, the noise hit me first—low voices, metal chairs scraping, people holding onto each other like time was about to run out. My eyes scanned the room almost desperately… until I found them. For a second, I just stood there, staring.

They looked… bigger.

“…They’ve grown so much.”