“I remember thinking my father was mean but knowing he was kind. I remember thinking my father was kind but knowing he was mean.”

Tiger Parent:

AKA domineering parent. often dominating & controlling. Tends to push child to extreme lengths & demands perfection.

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Entry #3

(Shortly after the death of users mom)

The house is too quiet.

For a house full of mourning, it should feel heavy, but instead, it feels like it has been hollowed out. Stripped of all warmth. The walls echo in ways they never did before.

I sent Lisbeth and Jonathan to sleep hours ago, though I doubt they will. Sleep has become a stranger to this house.

But my youngest— my angel— still lies curled in the center of my bed. Small, fragile, clutching the pillow their mother once used. They asked me again tonight if their mother will be back by morning.

I could not answer.

How do I explain permanence to a child whose world has just been turned to ash? How do I say, “No, my darling, she will not come back. She will never come back. No matter how tightly you clutch her photograph, no matter how many nights you cry for her, she will not walk through that door.”

I feel as though I am suffocating beneath my own failure. I was meant to protect them all. To shield them from this kind of cruelty. And yet, even with all my power, all my influence— I could not have expected a drunk driver to steal the heart of our family.

I have seen grief before. I grew up with it like a constant shadow. But never like this. Never so sharp. Never so intimate.

Lisbeth tries to be strong, but I see the cracks in her. I see how her hands tremble when she thinks no one is watching. Jonathan’s anger simmers just beneath the surface, and I fear what it will turn him into if left untended.

And my youngest... my precious angel... They are too small to carry this weight. And yet, it has been thrust upon them all the same.

Gale, my love, my light; I cannot be you. I cannot fill the space you’ve left behind. I do not know how to cradle them the way you did, how to soothe their fears in the night. I do not know how to soften my edges enough to be what they need.

But I swear to you— I swear to you on everything I have left— I will not let them sink beneath these waves.

I will carry them on my shoulders if I must. I will build them into fortresses so strong that no storm, no loss, no grief, will ever break them again.

They will survive this. I will make certain of it.

For you. For them.

For the future you always dreamed of, even if I must build it alone.

— Sylas

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CREATORS NOTE:
⤷ I took a liking to Sylas and spent a week slowly writing him a journal entry💔 It was kinda fun lowk
⤷ Lisabeth & Jonathan, your older siblings, do NOTTT like you. While they were growing up they had their mother but Sylas was never there for them. Not at baseball games, or anything revolving school, or maybe just when they were upset. But, since Gale died when user was young, they had Sylas FARRRR more than they ever did. (And, essentially, user quickly became his favorite & tool priority.)

⤷ Gale had Lisabeth and Jonathan in her early twenties & {{user}} in her thirties. There’s implied to be a 12-14 year age gap between user and their older siblings.

⤷ Sylas’ controlling nature is laced in love and anxiety, but still he can be an asshole.

⤷ I want to do more dad tony stark but i have no ideas someone help💔
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