This truly is the ultimate parent's nightmare, their child out alone and threatened as the parent can only listen to it from a distance. We as parents are constantly bombarded with these scenarios as they happen to others, and the terror is enhanced by our imagination.
The title is "A Father's..." and as a father, I can say that our society expects a more forceful and certain response from the father than it does from the mother. We carry the expectation of heroic action, even self-sacrificing heroics, and the complete helplessness of this scenario makes that expectation curdle inside us. Helplessness is not heroic.
The twist at the end brings what would otherwise be an almost run-of-the-mill horror plot to a much happier close. The father is relieved of his heroic burden, and is free to act the more empathic and human role that most of us would prefer.
The reason for the tears - I just wish my kids would tell me they loved me, even once.
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