Excerpt #4

Took 3 hours to slog my way through 1000 words today.  I have been away from the story for too long, and I lost the emotional thread.  I think I finally found it in the last two paragraphs...
- - -

"I don't want to hear your whining excuses," Robert snapped.  He brought his arm up as if he were going to backhand his son.  For the first time since the door had closed, Karin moved.  She took a single step, putting herself between her brother and her father's outstretched hand.  Her heart beating loudly in her ears, she faced her inebriated father.  She spoke slowly and calmly, fear betrayed only by a slight breathiness in her voice, "That's enough.  They were right to cut you off.  You need to leave now, before you do something you can't take back."

It took all the courage she had to stand there, ramrod straight, while her father debated his next move.  Slowly he put his arm back down by his side and took a step backward.  Before he turned to leave, he uttered six words, shoving them into her heart like knives.  "I expected more from you, Rini."  The stress and adrenaline of the situation finally overwhelmed her, black roses blooming across her vision.  By the time her world stopped spinning and her breathing returned to normal, he was gone.