Withdrawal from Darkness

Dear Father,

My brain is engraved with the images from those nights.

You are a great man by day but when the sun falls behind the montains you can give quite a fright.

It was 3 AM on the first night, when you woke me from my slumber.

You asked me to crawl into your bedroom where mom was hiding, I did'nt know why but as time went on I started to Wonder.

We hid in the dark closet for hours because the neighbors were trying to kill us.

As our hearts raced we hoped and prayed these would not be our last moments together, an hour later we wonder why you had such a fuss.

We should have known; you were the only one sweating,shaking, and seeing things that were'nt really true.

Daylight came and we knew, everthing that had happened was from all of that BREW!!!

That was the last time you touched alcohol, but that was only the first night of two.

I am not scared of the dark, but everytime I step outside of my room the pitch black hallways never fail to remind me of you.

Night two I was walking back to my room when I saw a shadow; yes it was you, but also not.

You didnt recognize your own daughter, your fists were clentched and you said nothing like you had an evil plot.

After the first night I didnt really know the severity of it until I had to say " its just me dad".

I did'nt know what you were capable of ; I had never truly been afraid of you until that moment , which makes me sad.

You were'nt yourself for months after, but how could you be when all you were back then was ALCOHOL?

I am now 22, I never truly knew you until last year when you stopped; You are a great father who went through Withdrawal.