Chapter 3: Breaking Point

109 6 5
                                    

__________________________________

Disclaimer : This chapter contains depictions of abuse, and attempted murder reader discretion is advised

__________________________________

The next day, after breakfast...

I sat on my cosy chair in my pretty pink room, watching my favourite anime "Magical Girl Pretty Miyuki" on my tiny TV. Papa gave it to me for my birthday, and I love it sooo much! When the opening song started, I jumped up and sang along, pretending to be a magical girl myself.

"Dokidoki nitto waratte sumairu go go! (Go!)" I sang with all my might, striking a pose just like Miyuki did at the end of the opening song. The episode was sooo exciting, it was like I was there with Miyuki.

But as much as I like the show, I still couldn't escape the reality of my life... at one point in the episode when Miyuki started to fight the monster, it reminded me how mama sometimes gets really scary when papa isn't home. Mama would sometimes scream at me or hurt me, just like what mama did last night.

Shaking my head trying to remain positive, I guess I was thinking too deep as the anime already ended. Standing up to go to the kitchen, to get some juice, papa always buys me a lot of juice cartons.

As I was going down the stairs, I took a peek in the living room before going to the kitchen, trying to see if papa is still home. Looking around the living room, I saw papa sitting on the sofa, while watching TV.

"Papa~" I excitedly called out, while rushing towards the sofa, expecting papa to give me a pat on the head as usual, but instead papa just nodded and continued to watch TV, as I sat next to papa on the sofa.

"Did I do something bad?" I thought as papa would usually do this whenever I did something bad, or if papa was tired after working all day.

"Papa are you mad at Ayano" I softly asked while shaking papa on the lap, only to be ignored by papa again

"Papa" I softly called out again, confused and hurt on why papa was ignoring me...

"Senpai~ here's your drink" mama said, as I looked at mama placing the juice on the centre table.

"Thank you, dear" I heard papa affectionately say to mama, surprised that papa would reply to mama, since papa would usually hum when mama brought papa drinks or snacks.

"Your welcome, senpai~" mama replied to papa, while mama gave me a smirk, like she knows why papa is ignoring me

I stared at papa, with different thoughts entering my head, confused if I did something bad that made him mad, hurt that papa is ignoring me, angry at papa for ignoring me when I didn't do anything wrong, mama was the one who did something wrong, sad that papa might not like me anymore...

I felt dejected, and slowly headed to my room, not feeling the mood to get juice...

__________________________________

A few days passed and Jokichi kept ignoring Ayano in favour of Ryoba, as part of the deal Jokichi made with Ryoba to keep Ayano safe...

Ayano walked down the familiar path to her kindergarten, lost in thought. Her father has been ignoring her for days, and she couldn't shake off the feeling that he didn't love her anymore, she felt abandoned, her once cheerful and energetic demeanour replaced with a heavy weight in her chest. As she walked, she failed to notice her green haired friend Midori approaching her from behind.

"Hiya Yan-chan!" Midori excitedly greeted as she hugged Ayano from behind, a typical greeting she would do to her friend.

This snapped Ayano out of her thoughts, but she could only muster a weak smile in response. Midori noticed Ayano's lack of energy these past few days, and couldn't help but worry for her one and only friend at school, as everyone thought she was annoying due to her bubbly and curious personality.

A Father's SacrificeWhere stories live. Discover now