Anger Management [Meloghia]

Chapter 5: Fear of Touch

That night Ghiaccio dreamt of burning white blindness. He heard Melone's voice calling out to him, felt his hands on him, but they weren't his hands anymore. They were his father's and he slapped away the touch. He woke in a cold sweat; he panicked more when he couldn't see. He threw his arm out in front of him, feeling around. He whimpered as his hand hit the desk and his fingers clasped around his glasses. He struggled to put them on since he was still shaking. Clarity came over him and a sense of calm.

I can still see. It was just a dream.

His sigh was long and quivering as he breathed out his anxiety. He still felt his father's presence. There was nothing Ghiaccio had hated more as a child than when his father decided to pay attention to him. It meant that he was in for a world of hurt. His mother had split when he was twelve. She'd had enough of the abusive asshole she'd been married to for fourteen years and decided to leave. However, starting a new life meant starting fresh with no attachments, and that included young Ghiaccio.

She left at dawn.

He still wasn't sure what it was that had woken him up that morning, but he knew that sight left him without sleep the next night. She had bags packed and walked down the street, probably to catch a bus. Her decision to leave had not only been emotionally devastating, but also physically. When his dad woke up to find Ghiaccio at the table and his mother nowhere in sight, he demanded her whereabouts.

"She's gone." Ghiaccio tried not to choke on the words. He would not cry in front of this man.

"What do you mean 'she's gone?' Where?" He said gruffly. The annoyance in his voice was evident. He could blow at any second. Unfortunately, so would Ghiaccio.

"She fucking left us! And it's your fault!" Ghiaccio barked at his dad. He usually held his anger in but today he couldn't. His fury and hurt were pouring forth at a rate he couldn't control. He knew what would happen if he talked back to his father, but he just didn't care anymore. What did anything matter now that his mother left? What he'd said was all true, and he was willing to back that sentiment with violence if necessary.

"What did you say to me?!" He strode over in an instant and gripped Ghiaccio by the shirt, yanking him from the chair and throwing him to the floor.

"It's 'cause you're so shitty! She hates you! I hate you!" he screamed. His dad yanked him up off the floor and punched him in the stomach.

"She hates you too, which means she isn't here to protect you anymore, you little shit!" He growled and punched him again. Instead of withdrawing like any other day, the rage in his soul burned white hot inside him as he faced his father. With his free hand, Ghiaccio hit him as hard as he could in the face. For a moment, his dad let go of his arm and Ghiaccio kicked him as hard as he could and threw another punch. His father backhanded him into the table, upending a cup and sending papers to the floor. The impact left his side aching and his face stinging.

Both father and son stared at each other, both with the same cold rage that burned like the touch of dry ice. Handed down to them through their bloodline was a wrath that destroyed everything around it and those caught up in its wake. An uncontrollable blizzard that had little to spark it to life and was self-sustaining, chilling every heart and relationship alike. It was the reason Ghiaccio had no friends and it would continue to sew more discord into Ghiaccio's life just as it had his father's.

His father lunged at him as Ghiaccio did the same, his small hands doing little to stop the large man before him. He bit and tore at any skin that came close. Ghiaccio's father finally picked up one of the chairs and cracked it over Ghiaccio's body. He collapsed to the ground and fear crept through him as he realized just how unbalanced the fight truly was. He went to get up with the support of the table when his father came at him again. He took this moment to get in one good hit, a kick to the crotch sent his father screaming to his knees and giving him the chance he needed to exit the fight.