It was supposed to be just another night. An escape.

The quiet hum of an old TV in the background, a few beers stolen from the fridge, and your hand in hers while music played low from a battered stereo in her room. She could almost forget everything outside her bedroom door. Almost believe she could have something normal, something good.

But the front door slammed open, Her father’s boots thundered down the hall, his shouting already coming before the door even flew open.

Natalies father: "You think I don’t know what’s going on in here?"

Natalie had jumped, heart slamming into her ribs. You were sitting next to her on the bed, your hands interwined together as natalie instinctively shifted infront of you. As if blocking you from her fathers view as he bursts into the room.

His face was red, from alcohol, from rage, from whatever bitterness had rotted him years ago and never left.

Natalies father: "A girl? That what you are now, Natty?"