the little mermaid

loneliness, uncertainty, regret

It had been so long since he had seen his daughter.

She was gone - maybe even dead. He wasn't sure.

He had no clue where she was, but he did know it was his fault. She ran away because of him.

He had isolated her, forced her into captivity, kept her locked away in her home that she probably grew to think of as a purgatory.

So she ran away. That was the only explanation.

She ran away because any life that boring, that constricting, was surely not a life she could stand to live. He realized now, and should've realized before, that she would do anything to be free again.

He only wished she had talked to him, begged him to let her go. He would've if he knew how much it was hurting her.

But however much pain she felt then was nothing compared to what he was feeling now. Everyone he loved was gone. He had absolutely no one.

Surely he could not live this way.

So he simply decided not to.