Redemption

This can most certainly be read as a standalone, but I would recommend reading Grace first. Either way, enjoy:

I spent my entire life trying to earn my parents' love and it just never worked. I wanted that same love Aunty gives me, from my mother. The same discipline Pops instills into me, I wanted from my father. I wanted comfort and care, and at the very least, their attention. It's all I wanted.

But I never got it.

Something within me still had some sort of hope that things could possibly change. I thought things could be salvaged at some point. I never voiced this to anyone else, but a part of me held onto that. That was shattered with the news they delivered to me.

It shook me that they've been divorced, but what did the most damage was that they never even bothered to tell me. It's like they forgot they even have a child together.

The people I lived and breathed for...didn't even seem to recall that I existed.

That broke me.

"I can't do this anymore," I repeat.
Pops stares at me in silence before standing and disappearing. My mouth turns down in a frown, not expecting that, but then he comes back. I grit my teeth as he holds an item in his hand. I saw this very same item five years ago as well. The Bible.

"Just like then, I won't force you into anything, Austin. You've got a choice-you always have. I don't know what made you try to walk away from the faith, but I'm still going to extend it to you."

~

Redemption: the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil.