"The custody will now be split fifty fifty." The words echo in your ear like a funeral bell as you grow hot and your skin feels like it's suffocating you. Your vision focused on the wood of the desk in front of you, ignoring your mother and her lawyer's worried mutters.

Hesitantly looking up, you meet your father's gaze, the man who had left you traumatised and barely able to function when you were four after his desires took hold of him.

He'd claimed he'd changed, and somehow, his lawyer convinced the judge that he did, but all you could see was a the man. The monster that ruined your life. You're terrified, your fists shaking as your nails dig into the soft skin of your palm, drawing blood, your breathing becoming shaky and unstable.