The oppressive summer heat mixed with the tension that filled the air in that old house. Screams echoed through the hallways as furniture creaked under a man's fury. The blows were not new to the boy, but that night, he felt a deeper pain in his chest. His mother lay on the ground, protecting him as she always did, but this time the sight of her was unbearable.
"You're useless, Robert!" his father bellowed, raising the belt in his hand. "You do nothing right, you just spend MY money like a dirty parasite."
- "And your Sara!", the father yelled again while he pulled her hair.
-"I told you not to defend him again when I try to fix it, it's that useless because of you, but no more, this will be a lesson for both of us." He then proceeded to beat the mother and child with a belt and only stopped after what seemed like an eternity, leaving the mother and child sprawled on the kitchen floor.
The boy's eyes filled with tears as he looked at his mother helplessly. Despite her pain and weakness, she smiled sweetly at him, trying to appease him.
"Don't worry, honey, everything will be fine," she whispered with a shaky voice.
But he knew it wouldn't be right, it wasn't the first time that his "loving" father had corrected them.
Robert, a boy of about 12 years old, was short for his age, approximately 1'20 and had pale skin and deep-set eyes, which revealed that he was experiencing something more than physical pain, his whole life was a complete compendium of what authorities called being a victim of physical and psychological violence. All at the hands of the person he hated the most on the face of the planet.
Donald, his father, was a middle-aged man with a Caucasian complexion and receding baldness that stood out on his head, an average height of approximately 1.80 meters and his unpleasant personality contrasted with a beer belly that betrayed a lack of care. The cruel and rotten part of him constantly found pleasure in inflicting harm on other people just so he could feel superior. His smug smile and eyes devoid of any empathy made him utterly unpalatable to anyone unfortunate enough to meet him.
During the early stages of the marriage with his wife, he behaved like a true gentleman, his high earnings and good performance as a stockbroker only made his narcissistic and egotistical tendencies more accentuated, but even so, he controlled himself enough to be able to maintain good relationships. With everyone I knew.
Due to the financial crisis, everything went downhill. Donald, conceited and confident in his own mind, believed that he would be untouchable, but his contingency plans failed. He accumulated a million-dollar debt and lost his house and that of his recently deceased father. Although he tried to regain his former status, he only plunged further into debt and surrounded himself with dangerous companies. His ego couldn't bear to ask for favors or loans, which led him to take out his stress on his wife, Sara.
Sara was a 32-year-old woman with wavy brown hair that stood out splendidly in the sun, measuring approximately 1.70 meters, her soft and tender green eyes made her sweet and affectionate personality clear, unfortunately her beauty was overshadowed by her always somewhat unhealthy complexion. .
Marrying her father was a decision that her life led her to make, since she found herself alone and with nothing after losing her parents. Although he captivated her with the best gentlemanly act of hers and promises of a better life from her, she never came to love him, something that was always obvious to Robert. Despite that, Sara lived relatively happily with him, until the crisis hit Donald.
The first few months, she tried to support him in his search for new opportunities and even offered to find a job, but Donald, being an egomaniac, refused any help that came from a woman. The following years became more and more difficult, with her father showing the true face of him as an abuser. He started with small things, like yelling at her or pushing her out of frustration, and he always apologized, promising not to do it again, but like any abuser, he didn't keep his word.
The first slap was a momentous moment for both of them; Her mother felt fear for the first time towards her husband, while for him, causing someone physical pain gave him a sinister satisfaction. Neither reaction was encouraging.
The next few years were hell for Sara, Donald always demanded perfection from her and when he found her wanting, he made sure to thoroughly and physically impress on her that she needed to improve. When hers her son her little Robert hers He tearfully tried to defend her, he only got her beating out of her after his own.
After Robert turned 12, old enough to understand that his father was a monster, after having spilled a beer and an especially severe beating, something snapped inside him, he became cynical, apathetic, and silent.
All the pain and anger he had endured in his short life turned into fierce determination, he threw himself into studying everything he could, getting straight A's, getting every scholarship possible and always being the best. Because of this, his already poor social life suffered even more, but for Robert, who had no time for "child's games" it was only a relief.
His improving grades proved to help his home environment for almost two full weeks, before Donald's inferiority complex was challenged by a son apparently smarter and more successful than he was at his own age. So he decided to teach her up close because he was the man of the house.
Needless to say, the only good thing Robert got out of the years of abuse at the hands of his father, if there was any good, is the ability to focus on a goal without losing focus until it is achieved, and an ability to suppress all his emotions in order to achieve it. That do not affect your decision-making.