A Woman's Flight Chapter 7

And with that Richard was born into the world. Unfortunately from that point on Richard's father made it a point to take out his anger and frustration on him in particular. If he saw him struggling with his homework he used to say, " Why are you even trying. You know you are just going to get it wrong anyway. You were always dumb and you are never going to amount to anything. Might as well just give up now and die already." When Richard would do something his father didn't like, he used to take him out back and beat him until he could barely breathe. His other brothers and sisters would even try and intervene but his father's rage and cutting remarks left their permanent scars on Richard for the rest of his life. When his mother finally passed away it was almost like any resemblance of grace and humanity his father had left with his mother.

After she had passed his father made it his personal goal to torment and abuse Richard as much as possible. In his father's eyes he held Richard responsible for her death. He was heartbroken as well. His mother had been the only good thing in his life and his protector. When his father would beat him his mom would secretly cry as she saw him face the brunt of her husband's anger and frustration.

Whenever she would see that he was struggling or when she would see that he was especially unhappy she would often sing to him and take Richard in her arms and rock him and say” Its ok. Things will eventually get better. Just you wait. Your father doesn't really hate you. He is just frustrated that is all. He has never known what its like to be loved and I feel in some way I can give that to him.”

His mother really did seem to have an almost magical effect on his father and seemed to know exactly what to say to calm his father and he remembers his mother's laugh and how contagious it was. He missed how much his mother's smile used to warm him up and seemed to soften his dad as well. He thought of her as an angel. When she had passed, something broke in Richard. He started to severely hate his father. He would imagine him dying in various gruesome ways and he started acting out more in school and causing trouble in general.