This story (hopefully not too long) will probably be my last piece for a long time. I need a break from writing, if that hasn't been apparent by my scattered updating schedule.
sheltered
There comes a time in your life where you have to let go.
For my mother, that time came when I was only ten. I watched my father throw a thousand and one fits, papers reading the words divorce and custody battle springing to life across a page. I watched my mother pack her things with the hardest, and saddest, look in her dark brown eyes.
There's also a time in your life where you have to realize your mistakes, and how that has affected everyone around you.
For my father, that time came when my mother left him alone in our old house. That time came when, bloodied and bruised internally, he wandered the streets and came to our door at night, begging Momma to take him back. That time came when the divorce was final, Momma got her two youngest boys, and Dad got his eldest.
I'll never know if Darry enjoyed being with Dad. From what it seems, it really threw him for a loop that he hasn't recovered from. I'll never ask the words, "How did Dad treat you?" because I know damn good and well it wasn't anything less than shit. Somehow, the state of Oklahoma rewarded my father with a son, a gift that he should've cherished, and instead only pushed farther and farther away.
