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He was completely different behind closed doors.
By Jonathan Alfano — Written on Jun 04, 2022
A man on Reddit shared horrifying recounts of how his late father abused him behind closed doors.
The man posted his stories on the subreddit r/TrueOffMyChest, a forum that allows people to speak their mind when they have something they just need to say. He says that nobody he grew up with would ever believe him, so posting about it online is the next best method of expressing how he felt.
To the outside community, his father was a beloved figure. He played a key role in the local church, taught Sunday school, mentored kids and had a seemingly lovely relationship with his wife of 20 years.
He says his dad dying brought him great happiness.
“That monster beat me every day for years behind closed doors,” he wrote.
“He beat me until my legs and arms were raw, screaming in my face the whole time and hurling insults at me, telling me how horrible of a child I was, calling me a stupid brat and saying I wasn't good for anything except prison. This started when I was a toddler and continued until he kicked the bucket when I was 14.”
He then explains the ways that his father abused him, including force-feeding him vinegar and soap, screaming at him for being a “cash drain” and a “leech,” and not taking him to the doctor when he needed medical attention.
He recalls how bullying in school drove him to attempt suicide in the sixth grade. When he told his father what was happening, he told his son to just “suck it up” and ridiculed him for the same things he was being targeted for at school.
While he was enduring his father’s torment, his sister was the “golden child” of the family.
When the sister heard one random comment about her weight, the father angrily marched to the school’s office demanding justice. He would get beaten with a belt when he got a B on a test, while she would get a “good job” even when she failed one.
The man next recalls the night before his father died. His dad yelled at him for not cleaning up his sister’s mess and threatened to beat him, but he didn’t sit back and take it this time.
He threatened back that he would steal the belt and use it on his father the next time.
He never got the chance because his father died soon after.
After years of suffering from his father’s abuse, he felt no remorse after hearing the news.
“So overjoyed that when my mom called with the news, I just cried out with relief while my sister went catatonic and was never the same,” he wrote. “She was the only one he'd hugged and said ‘I love you’ to the night before. No one else. Certainly not me.”
The funeral drew a huge crowd, including coworkers, college friends, and the entire local church. The man put on a sad face for the funeral but was smiling wide underneath it.
“I was grinning when they lowered him into the ground,” he wrote. “Only visited his grave once to spit on it.”
In the years since the man has recovered from his father’s abuse. However, mental trauma still leaves an impact today.
Readers sympathized with the man’s experiences, offering positive wishes in the comments.
“I hope you are healing from this,” one commenter wrote. “Had a flashback of my childhood. So sad to know that so many go through such horrendous treatment from family.”
“That psychopath cannot be called a father,” another commenter wrote. “I'm so sorry you went through this. I hope you can somehow recover from this.”
Jonathan Alfano is a writer who focuses on news and entertainment topics. Follow him on Twitter to keep up with his content.