Under 2:00 Part 2

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In my shock, I dreaded what my Dad was going to say. My only job was to protect my twin sister, his favorite. I couldn’t even protect myself. He was going to hate me when he found out.

But no one ever said a word. Nothing. Not even yelling at me for being so pathetic. I dreaded and waited and nothing. Dread was my punishment.

My parent’s silence was how they screamed Shame. I started hearing it leak out in comments, nothing direct, never direct. Soon everything was a backhanded stab. I filled in the clarifier at the end of sentences that they never said out loud. Praises were tainted, I knew they meant to add “…for a sissy”. No matter what words they used, what they wanted to say was “weakling”, “pussy”. They hated me so much they couldn’t even stomach a whisper. It…