The truth always comes out, always fights its way to the surface not caring who gets broken along the way. You can’t run from the truth, it will always find a way to hunt you down.
“Fuck you.” I shout.
I have nothing left to lose. Let him fire me, let him disown me. I don’t care anymore.
The only thing I care about is breaking before my eyes and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.
He laughs again. “So weak, my son. How did you get this way? Was it your mother? I just don’t understand,” he says tauntingly. “How in the world did you become such a pathetic thing? Hmm?”
I don’t know what takes over me, but I lunge at him, pushing him down to the ground and hitting him hard.
Behind us somewhere I hear Mik screaming, crying but I don’t stop. He pushes back, rolling us over, gaining the upper hand and landing a punch to my jaw. He’s too big, too slow, and I roll him back over.
“Stop!” I hear Mik shout, but everything in my line of vision is shielded. I’m surrounded by darkness, just me and him, and I can’t stop. I can’t stop fighting him and I don’t care about the consequences.
I roll one more time, but this time it’s different, this time I realize I roll him over the cliff. I feel Mik grab on to my ankle and as the black haze recedes I realize that my hands around my father's arms are the only thing holding him above that dark water.
The only thing keeping him alive.
Somehow I’m still on the ground, just my chest hanging over the edge and Mik holding onto my legs with every ounce of strength she has, fearing me falling over the edge as well.
I look down at him, if only for a second and find his dark eyes meeting mine.
It’s fitting, I think.
Then I let go, let him drop. I hear his sad scream as he falls and the only thing I can think is… who’s pathetic now?
Mik is clinging to me. Tears rush from her eyes, sobs heaving from her chest. Her face is a mess of black mascara and she holds me, holds me for the first time in a long time.
I wrap my arms around her and catch my breath, suddenly aware of how much my chest aches.
We stay there for a while like that. Just breathing heavily, my father’s body somewhere beneath us in the black ink of the water.
I only tell David the truth. And we call the police together, having them head out to this house for the second time in a year.
While we wait for them I head to the security room, I want to clear two tapes.
One from tonight, and one from a year ago.
The security room is hidden on the first floor in the far back, locked with a thumbprint scanner that only my father, mother, and I can access. I press my thumb to the smooth surface, letting the door click to let me in.
But the room is black, every monitor off, every recording device down for the night. It’s weird, my father never turns the security system off. We have far too many valuables to risk any of them going missing or anyone sneaking onto the property.
I boot up the system, letting the computer roar to life. Once it’s on again I scroll through the history finding October 31st of last year. Nothing after six PM, nothing but black screens, not a single recording.
An ache hits my chest as I remember the drugged drink he gave Mik. How she thinks he gave her one that night too…
How many other nights are blank?
How many girls have fallen victim to my father?
Every last doubt I had about letting him go suddenly vanishes.
When the police finally arrive, I do most of the talking, a shaking Mik sitting beside me wrapped in a blanket and David on the other side. All of the party guests have left, my mother sits across the room holding a tissue to her face.
I tell them what happened, but not without a twist.
I tell them how Mik had confronted my father, and he admitted to taking Auden out to the cliffs that night and pushing her over.