after the death of her mother, leighton's father sends her to a boarding school halfway across the world to be taught a lesson. she knows no one and no one knows her.
but the cherry on top is who her roommate is.
#2 in ptsdawareness
#2 in anxiety
#...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"i know that you got daddy issues"
-daddy issues by the neighbourhood
! trigger warning !
⎯⎯⎯
You can do this.
I'm standing outside the hotel room door, my heart pounding against my ribs.
I haven't seen my dad in months, and now he's here, all the way from Australia for a stupid parent teacher meeting.
Why couldn't my aunt have just come?
I raise my hand to knock, but before I can, the door swings open, and there he is.
"Leighton!" His voice is a little too loud, his grin a little too wide.
The scent of alcohol wafts from the room behind him, and my heart sinks.
Oh no.
"Hi, Dad." I force a smile, stepping inside.
The hotel room is a mess.
Empty bottles litter the floor, and the bed is unmade.
My dad's eyes are bloodshot, and his shirt is wrinkled.
He looks more different than he's ever been.
"Sit down, sit down." He gestures to a chair, but I stay standing, feeling the tension coil tighter inside me.
Somethings off.
"It's great to see you, Dad." I try to keep my voice steady.
"I missed you." Lie
"Yeah, well, I'm here now, aren't I?" He slumps into the chair, taking a swig from a bottle of whiskey. "How's school? Still wasting your time on that nonsense?"
I bite my lip, the familiar sting of his words hitting hard. "I'm doing well. I've made some good friends, and—"
"Friends, huh? Like that useless bunch you used to hang out with? Always dragging you down, distracting you, influencing you." He scoffs, shaking his head.
My hands clench into fists at my sides. "They're not...useless. They're good people, and they care about me."
"You're just like your dead mother."
The mention of Mom makes my chest tighten. "Don't bring her into this. I know its my fault just don't."
"You're just a kid, Leighton. You don't know anything about real life. You think you can just float through, surfing and playing around, but life doesn't work that way, slut."
