It was late at night. The brisk wind hit the feeble leaves that hung from the trees. I watched them pirouette before my eyes, almost kissing my nose as they drifted in the wind. Then, they crashed on the pale sidewalk, the beam sharp in the darkness. Father drank vigorously from a tinted glass bottle, as he always did. His loud gulps echoed in my ears, a pounding heartbeat, sending a shiver down my spine, and prickling my goosebumps. His free hand gripping the arm of his chair like glue. Five empty bottles were on the porch floor beside his chair. His jaw bone was clenched tightly, I glanced briefly at his cold, piercing, eyes that gathered the darkness of a storm. Yet, his focus belonged to nothing but the road.


Suddenly, he let out a roar of anger, so unexpected I gasped. A loud shatter rang through my ears. I noticed bits of tinted glass surrounded me. There was a distant sound of tires screeching on the concrete road. I saw my mums deep green Buick, pull up into the handicap parking slot. I remembered that very morning we drove to church. During the service she gave me a butterscotch Dum-Dum lollipop. I remembered it’s intimate taste tingle my taste buds, making my mouth water (but that quickly died away).


I was dragged back into reality by a fierce tug on my arm; my mother was trying to pull me into the car with such force and desire, as if her life depended on it.



I caught a glimpse of Father, red-faced, furiously yelling at my pallid mother. He looked like a raccoon with rabies as his foamy spit smacked the concrete. My mum was screaming, her voice was shaky with fear. I watched him slowly pull a gun from his pocket. It was like a slow motion movie that I was merely watching, but certainly not living in.


I heard the click of a trigger. The fury that was buried underneath my skin unleashed itself, rousing me like a snake. I jumped on his back, and gouged my nails deeply into his skin; a burst of high-pitched screams escaped me. (Every ounce of stability was lost as I kicked violently; I burned with a desperate desire to hurt him as he had hurt me.)


He bellowed and threw me down, I felt my body thud against the concrete. Agony beyond compare detonated in my head, and I thought it would explode. Then, I heard the loud bang of a gunshot. My body lay rigid on the sidewalk, paralyzed with fear that boiled like acid in my stomach. My adrenaline was pumping, I thought my heart would rip from my body due to anticipation, as it grew more unbearable every dragging second. The vibration of a terrified scream was slowly dying away and everything faded to black…