This creative thesis explores authoritarian parenting and emotional distance within families through a novella entitled I’m Still Here. The work employs the genre of psychological realism to examine the inner lives of its characters, particularly Sonia Halim, a sixty-year-old mother diagnosed with late-stage leukemia who attempts to reconnect with her estranged children. Set within an Indonesian collectivist cultural context, the story reflects family dynamics shaped by cultural expectations surrounding obedience, sacrifice, and emotional restraint. The novella highlights how parenting styles centred on control, discipline, and academic achievement may influence children’s emotional development and contribute to emotional cutoffs within family relationships. It also shows the possibility that emotional distance within families can heal when individuals are aware of their relational patterns and adopt more adaptive ways of relating. This creative thesis applies Bowen Family System Theory, especially the concepts of differentiation of self, multigenerational transmission process, emotional cutoff, and healing process to demonstrate how emotional patterns are transmitted across generations. Through Sonia’s journey, the work illustrates that emotional distance is not always rooted in hatred, but may develop from inherited relational patterns that remain unresolved. Furthermore, the novella emphasizes the possibility of reconciliation through self-awareness, emotional openness, and behavioral change.