Just Love Me - SBS Writing Competition Entry.
I grew up with a mentally abusive father. He didn’t know how to raise a daughter and I looked too much like my Mother. I felt alone from such an early age. I remember him sitting me on his knee at 7, warning me my uncle might hurt me. My mothers family weren’t safe. The white floral dresses he made me wear. The sequin shirts and tracksuit pants that made me get bullied in school. I had to be his perfect princess. I wasn’t even allowed to cut my hair. One year on my fathers birthday, as I sat in a black leather arm chair with black wooden arms, my father announced we were no longer allowed to see my mothers family and they were separating. I was 9. I climbed to the top of the stairs that evening to see my mother sitting in a chair my father had built, alone in the dark sipping a tiny glass. I don’t think she ever knew I was there. But I will never forget it. For that night changed my life. I would sleep with a photo of my Mother und...