Monsters in My Mind

by Nick Oliveri

I was too young and defenseless and ignorant to be a sparring partner for a god, my father. So instead, I was merely a punching bag, bruised, lumpy, dusty, and gross. A punching bag was meant to be punched, beat up on. That’s exactly what I felt I was meant to be when I was with him.

I realized then that I “loved” her for no other reason than she was my mom. I knew her, and I lived with her. She gave me a lot yet deprived me of so much as well.

It suggested every burden or struggle one faces is self-imposed.