Between The Lines

Chapter 104: Breaking Point

Rebecca's POV (1st Person):

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of yelling. My heart sank even before my mind fully registered what was happening. The numbness that had settled over me last night was gone, replaced by a cold, creeping dread. I barely had time to rub the sleep from my eyes before the door to my room was flung open, slamming against the wall with a force that made me flinch.

"There she is," my mother's voice cut through the fog in my head, sharp and seething. "The girl of the hour."

I sat up slowly, my body stiff and aching from the tension that had settled in overnight. My parents stood in the doorway, both of them radiating fury. My father's face was flushed, a vein pulsing in his temple, while my mother's eyes blazed with an anger that made my stomach churn.

"Do you have any idea what you put us through?" my father bellowed, his voice echoing off the walls. "Where the hell were you last night?"

I tried to open my mouth, to say something, anything that might defuse the situation, but no words came out. My throat was dry, my tongue heavy. The fear that gripped me was paralyzing, making it impossible to think straight.

"You think you can just disappear in the middle of the night?" my mother's voice was shrill, her words slicing through the air like knives. "Do you know how worried we were? Do you even care?"

"I—" I started, but my voice cracked, and I couldn't finish the sentence.

"Look at you!" My father took a step closer, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "You've been acting like a different person, sneaking around, running off without a word. What's gotten into you?"

"I'm sorry," I whispered, but it was drowned out by the rising volume of their anger.

"Sorry?" my mother spat the word out like it was poison. "Sorry doesn't cut it! Do you think this is some kind of game? That you can just do whatever you want with no consequences?"

"I didn't mean to—" I tried again, but my voice was swallowed up by their shouting.

"Shut up!" My father's roar made me jump, my heart hammering in my chest. "Just shut up! We don't want to hear your excuses!"

Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring my vision as I stared down at my hands, trembling in my lap. The fear was overwhelming, suffocating, making it hard to breathe.

"You've become nothing but a disappointment," my mother hissed, her words dripping with venom. "We didn't raise you to be like this. Where did we go wrong?"

Every word they spoke was like a knife twisting in my gut, each one cutting deeper than the last. I could feel the walls closing in around me, the air growing thicker, harder to breathe. I wanted to scream, to beg them to stop, but I was frozen, trapped in the whirlwind of their anger.

"I can't believe this," my father muttered, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "You're ruining everything."

"Why can't you just be normal?" my mother's voice was shaking, her eyes glistening with unshed tears of rage. "Why can't you just be the daughter we raised?"

"I'm trying," I choked out, the words barely audible through the lump in my throat.

"Trying isn't good enough!" my father snapped. "You need to do better. You need to get your act together, or so help me—"

"Enough!" my mother interrupted, her voice cracking. "We're done with this. You're grounded. No more going out, no more sneaking around. You're going to stay here, and you're going to think about what you've done."

They turned and stormed out of the room, leaving me alone with the echoes of their rage ringing in my ears. The door slammed shut behind them, the sound reverberating through the room like a gunshot.