Page 2 of Tell Me I'm Enough

I start walking backwards until my back hits the bookshelf, bumping a container of pens onto the ground.

He yanks me up so hard by my arm this time that I hear my shoulder pop.

“Watch where you’re going! That’s your damn problem! What the hell is wrong with you, Mason? Why can’t you ever pay attention andlisten?”

“It—it wasn’t me!”

“Then who?!” he yells. “Your mother? Do I need to go get her in here and ask why she’s somewhere she shouldn’t be, either?”

I shake my head fast. “No! No, it—it was Thor!”

My dad stares at me for a moment, trying to figure out if I’m lying. “How the hell did adogget in a room that should be closed at all times?”

“I—I don’t know! I think you left it cracked this morning, and—and he just pushed inside!”

He shakes his head, still pissed, then starts pulling me out of the room with him. When the door opens, my mom is on the other side, worry clear on her face.

“Are you okay, Mase?”

“He’s fine, Nichole. Stop babying him so damn much. You’re going to raise him to be a pussy.”

“Don’t talk like that around him, Scott!”

“I speak how I want in this house. The houseIpay for! The house you two should be grateful to live in. Yet all y’all do is strive to make my life harder!”

He leads me out onto the back porch and then stops walking and points outside to where Thor is chasing a bird.

“Since you can’t keep up with that damn dog, then you can say goodbye to him.”

My head snaps up to look at him, tears running down my face. “No—no, you can’t!”

“I can, and I will! I’m over your disrespect, son! I’m over no one listening in this house! I’m over working hard to provide this life for the two ungrateful shits who benefit from it! I’mdone!”

Thor is my best friend. The only friend I have. He sleeps in my bed every night; he meets me in the driveway every day afterschool with licks and tail wags; he cuddles with me when I have nightmares; he’s there to distract me when my parents fight…he’s—he’s all I’ve got other than my mom.

“Please, Dad! I’ll watch him better, I’ll keep him with me! I promise! Please!”

He walks away, not even caring. “It’s not up for discussion. Say your goodbyes and get him in the car. You can either ride with us or stay here…but he’s going.”

“It wasme,Dad!Ibroke it! It wasn’t Thor!”

My dad stops in the doorway and turns to look at me.

He pauses for a long moment. “You know…I was thinking about just teaching you a lesson. I was gonna take him and then bring him back. But since you wanted to be a liar…now he’sdefinitelygoing.”

“Dad! Please!” I beg.

“Suck the tears up and get that dog in the car, or it’ll be a lot worse, son! He can either go to the pound and find a new family…or I can take my shotgun out there to the backyard and take care of him myself. Your choice, Mason.”

He walks back inside, and my mom comes running out, scooping me into her arms. I can’t stop crying. I feel like I can barely breathe.

I hate him. I hate him. I hate him.

She soothes a hand over my head and tries to comfort me.

“Nichole, what did I say about babying that boy?”

“You don’t have to do this, Scott! It was an accident! He’s eight! You’re traumatizing him!”