BuzzNovel“When | was in middle school, my dad lost his job because the factory laid off a bunch of workers. My mom,
though-she’d always worked so hard-she was spared. After that, my dad just... changed. He started drinking
every day, playing cards with his buddies. One time, my mom tried talking to him, just said a few words, and he
smashed a beer bottle over her head.”
Vera's voice was barely above a whisper, but it was as if she'd finally found a crack to let all the pain spill out.
She didn’t know if the girl sitting across from her-a girl who'd clearly grown up with every
advantage-could ever understand what it was like for a family like hers. But right now, she had no one else to
talk to. No one except the girl in
front of her.
“Mom, are you okay?”
Vera, just twelve then, had rushed up to her house when she saw a crowd gathered at the front steps.
In the living room, broken glass from beer bottles was scattered everywhere. Her mother, Carla, was sitting on
the floor clutching her head; blood dripped through her fingers, spattering the hardwood with
blossoms of red.
“Vera.” Carla looked stunned, but instinctively pulled her daughter into her
arms.
“Dad! What are you doing?” Vera stared at her father, disbelief and horror twisting her face.
Both mother and daughter had tried to be understanding-after all, they knew how hard the layoff had hit him.
They didn’t nag, didn’t complain, just hoped he’d snap out of it in a few days.
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But “a few days” turned into a month.
Carla had just finished working overtfor the fourth night in a row. She was finally off early and had stopped
by the market to pick up sgood
1/3
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Chapter 385
cuts of meat-planning to cook something special, hoping it might lift her husband’s spirits.
Instead, she chto a mess-beer bottles everywhere, dirty dishes piled high in the sink. The weight she'd
been carrying all week suddenly. felt unbearable.
She sighed and, unable to hold back, muttered a couple of complaints while cleaning up. She never expected her
husband to hurl a bottle at her. “I... I...” The man’s face was pale, panic flickering in his eyes as he dropped the
jagged remains of the bottle.
Outside, the neighbors whispered and gawked. He took a few steps back, looking lost, but when he caught their
stares, he straightened his shoulders, trying to save face.
“I'm the man of the house! | can do what | want! If you don't listen, I'll do the sto you!”
“Dad?” Vera stared at him, unable to recognize the man in front of her. Sure, he'd always been stubborn and old-
fashioned, but she’d never heard him talk like this.
“What are you looking at? It’s my wife-I'll teach her a lesson if | want!”
“Oh, look at you, Hamlin! Real head of the household, huh?” one of the men in the crowd called out, half-joking,
and a few others chimed in.
“Yeah, if my wife talks back, I give her a smack too! She still listens, even if | do it a hundred times!”
With every word of encouragement, Hamlin seemed to swell with pride, the earlier panic gone, replaced with a
twisted sense of bravado.
“Mom, are you okay?” Vera's tears
streamed down her cheeks agshe
WEEE 1] father itehed to his
warbed words, and saw her mother
still dazed and bleeding. The content
is on novelenglish.net! Read the latest
chapter there!
The sight of them—Carla and Vera,
huddled together iw prpkencurove
ky oklhe oleh ighbors away in
sifence, shaking their heads. Only a
10.02
Chapter 385
few younger women stayed, speaking up.
“Hamlin, she’s your wife. Can't you just talk things out?”
“Yeah, | ran into Carla at the store
today—she said she was buying tbs
to eke barbectie for
dinner. & a good woman. You
should think about what you're
doing.” The content is on
novelenglish.net! Read the latest
chapter there!
Hamlin shot a look at the woman who'd spoken, and her husband quickly tugged her away.
“It’s Hamlin’s family-let him deal with it. Con, let's go.”
Chapter 386
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