A Father's Mask

FREYA’S POV

I gripped the podium tighter and looked out at the faces staring back at me. Every person in that room had lost something. Someone. I could see it in their eyes—the same hollow ache I carried in my chest every single day.

"My father beat my mother," I said. The words felt strange coming out of my mouth. I'd never said them out loud before. "He'd come home from work angry about somethin