AOIFE
“AOIFE?” My father stood in the doorway of my room, eyes full of concern. “Are you alright, pet?”
“Fine,” I choked out, pacing my bedroom floor like a maniac, as I tried and failed to process that last few hours of my life. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You don’t seem fine.”
That’s because I’m not.
“What do you want me to do; take a fucking lie detector test?” I snapped, running my hands through my hair, only to shudder violently at the sensation. “I said I’m fine.”
“It’s just that I can hear you banging around up here from the sitting room, and I can’t hear my film with all of the stomping.”
“What do you want me to do?” I demanded, throwing my hands up. “Cut my legs off and crawl instead?”
“Jesus,” Dad muttered, rubbing his jaw. “Right. I’m off out for a pint with your mother. Stamp away to your heart’s content.”
The minute he closed my bedroom door behind him, a full body shudder rolled through me and I shook my hands out, desperate to rid myself of this horrible anxiety.
Stripping down to my underwear, I quickly balled up my clothes and walked over to my window, not hesitating to throw them out of it.
It wasn’t enough.
I could feel his hot breath on my neck. It repulsed me.
It made my skin crawl.
Tears streamed from my eyes as I reached behind my back and quickly unhooked my bra, letting it fall from my shoulders, before pushing my knickers down my legs and stepping out of them.
Grabbing my dressing gown off the back of my wardrobe door, I slipped it on and bolted for the bathroom, determined to wash the feel of that man off my skin.
