As a child, your father means the world to you. He is a hero in your eyes and will always be there for you. It's been said that a parent will protect their young from any situation that endangers the child and will love them more than anything. My father Tim was an exception to all of those statements except meaning the world to me. Tim was my best friend growing up, we did everything together but our relationship changed the day he got remarried. The hardest thing in life is to have someone you care deeply about tell you that they don't feel the same way; when I was nine my father told me that he didn't love me, it hurt me beyond any belief, and to this day I still have emotional conflicts due to that one conversation.
             When my father unexpectedly remarried, I was very optimistic. It was my hope that I would get a "cool" step mom, like some of the kids at school. I couldn't have been more off base than that. My step mother is an alcoholic and a child abuser, but we didn't find this out until a few months into their marriage. She was very mean to me and my father always turned the other cheek and let it continue. I was always aware that she had something against me, like I was going to steal my father away from her. In fact, the complete opposite is what ended up happening. The day that my heart got shot down was like any other, I was doing chores while my evil step mom watched television. I noticed that other kids were playing outside, and I asked permission to join them only to be answered with a swift kick in my stomach and being forced to stay in my room for hours on end. I hated her with a passion; she was ruining my life little by little.
             After several hours, my solitary confinement ended after my father called me outside to talk. I was very excited because my mother told me that one day my father would wise up and leave her, I thought this was
             ...