My Dad slapped tf out of me
So this is a story I haven’t really told anyone because I (19M) genuinely don’t know how to go about it, and my mom is fucking insane when it comes to me.
For context, my parents divorced when I was 2. Their relationship was rocky, but eventually they became friends again and even helped each other with business stuff. My dad is what most of my friends would consider a borderline deadbeat. When I was younger, he’d constantly forget to pick me up on his days and show up hours late. And when he did pick me up, he’d mostly just sit there watching TV. He never paid child support until he met my stepmom, who is genuinely one of the nicest people on the planet.
Once he started a family with her and had more kids, I slowly stopped seeing him as much. As I got older, our relationship kinda just became “he’s there sometimes.” I was honestly happy he got his own family and just respected that he was doing his own thing, so I kinda let it be.
Fast forward to a week before Thanksgiving. He offered me a job, but it was more like he forced me into taking it. The hours were insane and left me no time to apply to colleges, especially on top of another job I was already working. I ended up ghosting him about it thinking it would be chill, which honestly was my bad. Eventually I called him, apologized, and explained everything. He kept insisting it was fine and that he wasn’t tripping over it.
Then Thanksgiving came around and I went to his house. He was dissing me more than usual. Normally he always throws jabs at me whenever I see him, saying I won’t be shit or whatever in this weird semi-motivational way, but this time it felt personal. Later he took me into his room because it was loud outside and said he wanted to talk seriously about college.
We got into a small disagreement and I thought it was whatever, but something about him just felt off. Then he snapped and slapped the fuck out of me, hard enough to almost send me across the room. I was genuinely shocked because he had never done anything like that before. For reference, he’s like 6’2 220 and I’m 5’6 130, so I’m a pretty tiny guy 😭
After that he just kept slapping me over and over while yelling about how I’m arrogant, how he was gonna stab me, how I’m full of shit, how my mom is full of shit too, and how I never should’ve done that to him (referring to me ghosting him). He started talking about how I need to take care of my girlfriend because we split rent, how I need to be a sole provider, be a man, keep my promises, etc.
It’s a known fact he has anger issues, but I genuinely never thought it would go that far.
What makes it worse is how hypocritical it all felt. This is someone who has barely shown up in my life. When he makes breakfast plans with me, I literally sleep through them because I already know I’m getting a “sorry can’t make it” text. It’s always been like that. And when he was with my mom, she paid for basically everything like his student loans, his lifestyle, all of it. He was literally a stay-at-home dad.
I wanted to call the police or tell my mom after it happened, but he already has a criminal record and CPS has apparently been to his house before. He’s also the sole breadwinner for my stepmom and my half sisters, and he makes good money, so I don’t want them struggling because of me. But at the same time, I don’t want to tell my mom either because I genuinely think she’d do something crazy to him.
So instead I just ghosted him. I honestly think I could’ve moved on if he had apologized or even acknowledged it, but he never did. Instead he keeps trying extra hard to set up dinners with me, him, and my mom, and I’ve just been dodging it saying I’m busy, but that excuse can only last so long.
Idrk what to do. If he had actually taken care of me growing up, maybe I could’ve eventually brushed it off, but it’s the fact he didn’t and everything he said while repeatedly slapping me was just so insanely hypocritical.
TL;DR: My borderline deadbeat dad, who barely showed up for me growing up, snapped during a Thanksgiving conversation about college and repeatedly slapped/threatened me while lecturing me about “being a man” and responsibility. I haven’t told anyone because I don’t want my stepmom and half sisters suffering if he gets arrested, but I also can’t really move past it because he never apologized and everything he said felt insanely hypocritical.