“I remember when you were just a little girl. Your mother and I tried our best to give you a home where you couldn’t be hurt, since we lived in a bit of a… shady part of town. When you were just a toddler, you would always follow me around the house with that cute little smile of yours, showing me that you still loved me, even after what I had done to the family. Maybe you didn’t know that I divorced your mother and took custody of you because of your undeveloped brain. No, a child naturally loves his or her mother more… Right?

Anyways, remember that time at Jack’s 10th birthday party when you accidentally tripped and fell face first into the large cake? You were so embarrassed and you felt so sorry, but everyone was laughing. Not at you, but with you. I washed your face off, but then you started crying. You asked me why you were such a mess up. I told you that you were just nine and still making some mistakes, but mistakes help make you a good person. You countered my question almost instantly with another question. ‘How does falling into a cake make me a better person?’ We both snickered and moved on, but… You asking me why you thought you were a mess up surprised me. But I let it go.

Do you remember visiting your uncle for the first time? And seeing your slightly older cousins? You were so shy in front of them, it was actually adorable. They saw you by a tree in the front yard and tried to get you to play, but you just hid behind it. It looked like you were about to cry. I’ll tell ya, it took ages for you to break out of your shell and play with them, but it was worth it. You formed a bond with your cousins that no one could else could ever break. I guess… That’s the thing about you? The way your personality is built… You’re shy and lonely, so when you get a friend, you naturally form a strong bond with him or her. Hey, you formed a strong bond with me, too, even though I was just your father. With the ways I acted and talked, it felt like I was just a stranger. Yet, you know when someone says, ‘A man changes when he becomes a father’? I realized when you were born that I couldn’t hurt you.

But that makes this even more difficult,” The man clenches the handle of his already loaded .44 magnum. He stands on the other end of a closed door, left hand on the knob, and ready to bust in. “I can’t say that you’re not my daughter anymore. I know you are somewhere deep inside that monstrous shell.”

The man’s eyes begin to drip salty liquid as he clenches the doorknob. “I need to end your suffering, sweetie… Just one shot to the head and it’ll be over. It’ll be quick…” Soft grunts and snarls come from the other end of the door, where the man stands. “I love you, sweetie.” He quickly twists the knob and throws the door open, seeing his bloodied and disfigured daughter on the bed, eating a rotten corpse.

It only took one shot.