She looked at him lying there in the hospital bed at the mercy of others in a way he had never been before, at least not in her lifetime. The machines next to the bed beeped at a steady pace and created an underlying score for his breath, shallow and short even with the oxygen mask on. It was so foreign to see him like this, not her master, not her dark lord, not her bully, not her abuser. A life of possibilities opened in her mind.
“Goodbye, Daddy,” she whispered, and then she removed the mask from his face.
Music pairing: Daddy Lessons by Beyoncé