Fathers and Daughters

This was originally a script I wrote for a short film during my senior year of high school. I just randomly found it and wanted to post it on here because I lost the actual movie footage that I had edited together.

[trigger warning: this story involves the topic of rape/sexual assault. read at your own risk.]

**

A father's first instinct when he holds his daughter for the first time is to protect her.

Before she is even born,

he already believes in her.

He can already see her strength,

and he already has figured out how he's going to keep her safe.

**

By the time she is ten,

he's formed a bond.

He's already built a wall up around her for her own safety,

and he's shown her how to believe in herself.

**

By the time she is sixteen,

she's found her own path.

She's figured out how to create her own set of walls around herself.

She's already rebelled against your ways.

By the time she turns sixteen,

she's been involved with boys.

She's been wasted.

She's made mistakes.

**

Dad..

Daddy..

Oh, if only you saw me, dad..

You'd be so disappointed in me.

All those words you've told your friends,

about how I'm an angel..

turned into lies.

**

I am no angel.

Maybe I've been one in the past,

but that was all before..

Before my first drink..

my first smoke..

my first party..

Before I was a teenager.

**

Teenagers are rambunctious.

They have no idea what they are doing,

just as your friends would say,

during that weekly poker game.

You would laugh.

Oh, how you'd laugh.

"Not on my watch."

You'd just remind those friends how that was something your daughter would never get all caught up in.

**

I guess,

maybe,

teenagers are rambunctious.

Maybe,

we don't have any clue what we're doing,

or saying.

Maybe boys will just be boys.

Girls will just be girls.

Maybe I was just asking for it,

when I was..

Raped.

**

Boys will be boys.

A line you've always said when you were with your friends,

joking about how many girls they'll hit on in one night,

joking about how girls were such "whores",

or "sluts",

or "cunts".

I'm sure you were just like those boys, dad.

It's okay.

I won't be mad if you were, dad.

Boys will be boys.

**

How were you to know that one day you'd have a daughter who'd become a victim by a guy who just wanted to look cool for his friends?

How were you supposed to know that your little angel was to be hurt by the son of your best friend?

A boy you watched grow up into a man.

Someone you alwasy thought to be a fine young gentleman.

How could anyone expect to know that the actions they do,

could destroy someone else?

How could you?

**

Dear dad,

Thank you for protecting me.

Thank you for trying to keep me safe.

Thank you for never letting go,

and for believing in me.

But one day,

you have to let your little bird fly free,

even if it means letting a bit of danger into her life.

**

By the time she's twenty one,

She meets a guy.

He's sweet.

He's kind.

Funny.

Loving.

He's everything you'd ever want for your little girl.

He'll become her safety net, now.

**

She'll trust him.

He gave her hope.

He inspired her.

He bruised her.

**

Bruises.

Black and blue marks to reveal his true feelings.

It really isn't his fault.

She can really be a bitch at times.

Why else would he hurt her,

call her a bitch,

a whore,

a cunt,

if she didn't do anything to provoke him?

He really is a sweetheart,

dad.

She promises.

**

Maybe having that mindset is the reason why she can't find the reasons to leave.

By the time she's twenty five,

neighbors get suspicious,

cops get called,

his temper worsens,

his grip become stronger,

his bruises grow darker,

the cuts get deeper,

she grows weaker.

**

She never saw a problem,

until she found herself,

lying in a hospital bed.

Doctors believed that she was dead.

He almost won.

The man,

who she thought was so perfect,

had beaten her.

She understood that now.

He had covered her body in dark welts.

She understood now.

He never loved her.

He was a liar.

He never cared for her.

She understood that now.

**

Dear Dad,

You tried your best.

You protected her.

You kept her safe.

You did her job.

But dad,

before you focus on what you could have done,

focus on all the boys,

who are growing up to believe,

that they have to rape,

or hit,

or harm,

any girl just to fit the "cool factor" with their friends.

Focus on the boys who call the girls names,

tease the girls with violence,

make sure they truly understand that being a gentleman is what makes them cool.

Before it's too late.