Like a Child

A child. A father. Red short hair, tall and lanky. Brown eyes. He is angry. No, not angry, sad. Well, he is crying anyway. Sort of childlike at first. Then really loud. He is angry now. His little girl is 7, she is trying to comfort him, to soothe his anger because it scares her so much. He is screaming at her now. He goes to her room. She follows, heart racing. Her sadness and fear immense. She begins to cry, definitely childlike. "Daddy, what's wrong. Daddy, please don't cry." He screams at her "Why don't you go suck Tony's d**k!!" Now mind you, she is 7 and Tony is a boy from school. She has a crush on him. Daddy begins looking around the room, grabbing toys, drawings, her favorite Prince tape, the one with 1999 on it, the one she plays over and over. He begins ripping up papers, tearing the tape up, all the while screaming at her. She has lost what he is saying, she feels a pierce in her belly, like she has been punched in the tummy. She feels it in her heart too. She cries and cries. She is hysterical now. "Daddy please! Please stop! You are hurting me, why are you doing this?" He tears up her room. Posters torn, pictures of her horse, my little ponies with missing manes, a broken lamp. It feels like winter inside, dark, gloomy inside of her. She is scared, terrified even. This is not the first time he has gnashed his teeth and torn her things apart. He does this from time to time. Her nose is red and runny and her body wracked with sobs, involuntary snorts from the lost breath. She tries to stop the tears but they just keep coming and coming. She always wants to make him feel better, to hug him and make it all ok again. He is so upset, so angry, so scary. She can only wail, like a child. Like a child.