I'm So Sorry

Chapter Four

Mason

"Alright Dad, let me go, please? It's been three hours, you promised I could go to Shannon's."

"Mason, it's your family, can't you go another night?"

"It's the first bonfire of the year. I haven't seen Sandra in days because of finals and I've barely talked to the group since June started. God, please? Aunt Jackie and Uncle Bill will be here the rest of the week, and I already told Shannon I could go!"

Fighting with Dad is becoming the norm around here. Whether it had been about my grades or something with the group or with Sandra, he is always finding a way to get in my way. The only reason I can never last more than a minute in an argument with him, is because even though I'm over six foot tall and most people are afraid of that, Dad's even taller, almost seven foot.

He sighs deeply and runs his hand through his salt and pepper hair, obviously frustrated. "You know what? You want to waste your time with your friends instead of your family, instead of the people you've known your whole life, that's fine." He walks closer to me and wags his finger. "One day, you're going to regret the choices you made in high school. You're going to realize that going to bonfires and parties with your friends instead of studying will be the reason you didn't get into Princeton or Yale, and you're stuck going to Penn next year."

"Dad, just because I'm not going to the top two schools in the country doesn't mean Penn is a bad school! It's literally number eight in the country! It's still better than going to community college or even staying in state!"

"I don't want to hear it!" He yells. "You wasted your childhood being an idiot. You wasted your time getting girlfriends and going to parties when I told you studying was important, and you didn't care! You're never going to understand because you think you know what's best for your future, but you'll never listen. Get out of my house. Go have fun at your stupid bonfire. Waste more of your potential on people you'll never see again, including that air-head girlfriend of yours."

Dad has never insulted Sandra to my face. The girl he refuses to meet and I refuse to bring over because I don't want to hear him say anything horrible about her.

But never has he insulted someone I care about that wasn't a family member.

Before I can think about what I'm doing, I shove him over, and he smacks his head on the kitchen cabinet's, crumpling to the ground. I use this as a distraction, grabbing my car keys off the table and running out the large glass back door. I sprint to my car parked in the driveway, expecting to hear my father coming after me with pure anger and hatred in his voice. Usually when we fight and I leave the house he comes after me with a ruler or a shovel if it's been left on the deck. He's never hit me hard enough to cause any physical damage, but enough for emotional damage.

I jump into my black 1997 Dodge Intrepid, the one that I paid for after my parents bought me a car that cost nearly 100K. I didn't want it, I want nothing from my parents. I sold it back, gave them the money and I bought Elise with the money I earned at my job working at the ice skating rink. She was only a thousand, and I worked extra shifts, and used the money I'd saved doing odd jobs before turning 16 and started working at Ice Line.

I look out the passenger side window towards the back door to see if my father decided he's ready to come after me yet. Nothing. No sign of life anywhere. I let a sigh of relief escape my lips and I put the key in the ignition, Elise springing to life. She sputters and makes a couple of noises that I've grown accustomed to hearing, though I'm unsure what they mean. "Shh," I whisper to her as I buckle my seat belt. "Don't worry, Elise. I'm trying to get you in. I just need to work a few more shifts to be able to afford it, alright?"