Mama Lucy’s Here

The front door closed behind me with a snick - like a jail cell. I’d be imprisoned here until I did as Father asked - become like him. I closed my eyes and tried to slow my breathing. As my father’s daughter, all of this - whether I wanted it or not - was mine.

The basketball player in the room to my left, being schooled on how to snort cocaine. The high-stakes poker game in the library down the hall - I could smell the money from where I stood. Smell the greed. And the accountant who pressed himself against a maid in the hallway upstairs. Sex, drugs, want and money. All given and taken away at the whim of my father.

This was my inheritance. My kingdom.

And I despised it.