Usually, parents protect their children, love them, and risk everything for them. Isn't this the duty of a parent? Well, in my case, it wasn't like that. Even though my family situation was unique, I prayed deep down that everything would sort itself out and we would return to being a happy family, as my childhood memories had shown me. But everything shattered the exact moment my father's knife plunged into my mother's belly during yet another heated argument.
My constant fear was that one day he would come back and knock on my door. Now, that moment had arrived...
A disheveled man appeared before me, dressed as if he were wearing rags. His gaunt face with bones visible under the skin due to his thinness and his lifeless gaze, black eyes staring at me, sent shivers down my spine.
"Darling, why are you looking at me like that? It's me, daddy," he said.
He started talking, but I was frozen with fear. I held onto my aunt's hand lying on the ground, who was showing slight signs of movement despite her wound. She was alive, probably hit violently with the handle of the knife the man was holding.
"Hey, why aren't you answering me? Don't be a naughty girl," he continued to mutter, but I was too terrified to say or do anything. That man had lost his mind; you could tell by his gaze and the way he spoke.
He spoke those phrases as if he were serious, as if he expected me to greet him like a daughter reuniting with her father after a long time. He had truly gone mad, and there wasn't much difference between him and a lunatic.
"Ah, my little one," he said, slowly approaching me.
My body began to tremble, and my breaths became more labored.
"Answer me, I said!"
His tone suddenly became more serious. Despite being terrified, an involuntary survival instinct made me rise slowly and start to move backward.
He continued towards me, and when I reached the wall on the right side of the room, I began to sidestep. Even then, his gaze followed me like a compass pointing north.
"What... what are you doing here?" I said, my voice breaking almost into tears.
"Ah, finally, a response. I came for you. Mom is waiting for us!" he said.
"?" I was confused.
"I'll take you to Mom, and then I'll come too. So, we'll be together forever. Aren't you happy? I told you I would come back, remember?" he chuckled.
My heart rate kept increasing as he attempted to engage me in any form of conversation.
"Aren't you happy, right?" He asked me this senseless question, but I didn't answer. I was frightened, yet at the same time, I focused on finding a way to escape the situation.
I noticed various objects on the floor from the struggle with my aunt, including a vase. It would have been an excellent "defensive weapon" if the opportunity arose, and fortunately, it was in the same direction I was moving, but...
"I TOLD YOU, YOU MUST ANSWER ME."
After that shout, he violently lunged at me with the knife in his hands, and instinctively, I tried to reach for the vase, but I fell to the ground with my back before I could get to it, landing near it.
With force, he brought the knife down from above, gripping the handle with both hands. I fiercely held his wrists, stopping the blade just a few inches from my chest. In that moment, I could see his face up close, and he was anything but my father. His gaze penetrated me, and he seemed eager to plunge the blade into me to satisfy his sick desire for reunion...
Despite his somewhat skeletal build, being a man, he had a fundamentally stronger physical strength than mine, making it incredibly difficult for me to resist him.
The blade was getting closer and closer to my body.
"So, we'll be a family again," he said, exerting effort to bring the blade down. But at that moment, slightly distracted, I managed to shift the trajectory of the knife by moving my arms to the left.
Having loosened his grip on me, I had the fortunate time to reach for the vase lying nearby and grabbed it firmly. With determination, I hurled the vase at the attacker's head.
"Tush"
Just before it could hit him, instinctively, he placed his right hand between his head and the vase, shattering it. The broken glass spread around us. Both his hand and mine, which had grabbed the vase, were scratched and cut by the shards, but despite it all, I achieved my goal.
"Aah!!!" Even though he had managed to partially shield himself from the blow, the impact on the back of his head left him in a state of confusion, causing him to collapse momentarily in intense pain, although I had hoped to render him unconscious with that action.
I tried to seize the opportunity I had created and make my way to the front door to seek help or at least get him away from my aunt, who still lay defenseless on the floor. I couldn't protect her and face him at the same time, but my plan didn't have time to unfold. As I was about to get up from the floor, he grabbed my ankle, pulling me back down with my chest facing the ground.
I managed to turn myself around, now facing him again with my back on the floor. In that moment...
"Toh"
This time, he held the knife in his left hand since his right hand had become unusable. He stabbed me near my heart. As I tried to twist myself to block the blade once more, I didn't have time to see it; he had already struck me.
I remember a rush of blood pouring out of the wound, pooling on the floor. I couldn't breathe properly. My body went into hyperventilation. Amidst all this, I saw the pleased expression on my father's face as he caught his breath after the struggle.
"Finally, we can be togeth—tok"
Before he could finish his sentence, a blade tip pierced his abdomen from behind. My aunt had finally regained consciousness and brutally stabbed him in the back with another knife, ending his life instantly.
"This is for my friend!" she exclaimed, pulling the knife out of his abdomen and moving her body away as blood also started to pour from there.
The sound of my aunt's voice calling my name was the last thing I remember before losing consciousness.