I Hate My Father-In-Law

I Hate My Father-In-Law

I’ve always hated my father-in-law. From the moment I met him, I knew I’d never get him to accept me as his son-in-law, nor would he ever find me worthy of his daughter’s love. It was hard, and it took a lot of convincing and arguing but four years after I started dating her, I managed to convince the bastard to allow me to marry Marilyn. However, there was one condition I had to agree too.

You see, my family name goes back as far as time itself. It’s been told through the generations that my last name, Trust, was one of the first family names ever given. Apparently, we were named so because my ancestors always kept their word, and for that, they could be trusted. As time past, this sort of transformed into some kind of curse where, on a Trust’s wedding day, he’d promise one thing to his in-laws, which is written on a piece of paper and he’d be forced to accept that one condition and everything associated with it.

What I didn’t know at the time was that everything writing on this slab of paper would be taken literally. For example, if one were to write “At the age of 25, you’ll give me you’re mansion”, reality would change in order to fill this statement. Even if I lived in a cardboard box on the side of the road, the moment I turned 25, I’d find myself to be living in a mansion, I’d always remember living in a mansion and I’d be forced to give this mansion away.

So, it was only after telling Stephen, my father-in-law, this fact that I received his blessing, even if I knew he still hated me. On my wedding night, I gave him a small piece of paper on which he wrote his condition, and then he said to me “You might be taking my daughter from me, but with this agreement, I’ll be getting something even better”.

His statement made me boil in anger and I quickly placed the letter into an envelope without reading it, not wanting to know what the bastard wanted from me, and watched as the cursed item disappear into thin air. I knew that I’d only see it again when I was forced to accept the terms of his condition.

Not reading it was my mistake, and it’s only 25 years later that I realized my mistake.

My story begins the day of my daughter’s 18th birthday. I hadn’t seen Stephen in over 5 years, not since Marilyn’s death. From that day forward, Stephen almost made a career of staying out of my life, which was totally fine by me. I hated him, and my daughter hated him too, so she wasn’t bothered by his sudden disappearance and we grieved for her mother without him. So, imagine my surprise when Stephen walks in through my front door in the middle of my daughter’s birthday party.

For his sake, I’m glad my Ashley was in the backyard when he did because she would’ve given him a piece of her mind, and it wouldn’t have been pretty. Ashley was a feisty one, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she was the dominate one in her relationships; her mother was the same and it’s part of the reason I loved her. So, while my daughter was partying out in the backyard, I was stuck to deal with my father-in-law in the house.

He never looked worst. 62 years of age didn’t do him any good. He had a full head of white hair and he looked like a big balloon. It was clear that he’s been drinking ever since Marilyn’s death and the results weren’t appealing. By the way he was walking, I could tell he was drunk or experiencing a serious hangover. Either way, he looked like shit, and I wondered what was so urgent that he had to talk to me in this state, five years after walking out of our lives.

“I just came here to tell you that our agreement is about to be fulfilled.”

With that statement, he left just as abruptly as he came. I just stood by the front door with a blank look on my face as the reality of his announcement hit me. I was suddenly filled with fear, I started sweating and my mind raced with a thousand possible scenarios. I didn’t know what to do or what to expect and it was eating me alive. Not knowing what to do, I tried to continue on with my day but, needless to say, it ruined the rest of my daughter’s birthday for me. It wasn’t until later that day that I managed to calm myself down and allow the fatigue caused from all the stress help me fall asleep.

Everything changed when I woke up the next day.

At first, it all seemed normal but as I got up, I noticed I had slept on the couch. Feeling lightheaded and dizzy, I started leaving the living room to go upstairs and change into something more comfortable when I noticed a new picture frame on our small coffee table in the corner of the room.