Prologue

“GOD DAMMIT, TYLER!?” Dad cursed. I was two rooms away from the spilled paint in the garage, but I could still hear his temper flaring and the heart wrenching sound of his leather belt coming off the loops of his trousers.

I dropped everything. My Xbox controller. The drink in my hand. Everything.

Without even letting myself think, I ran down the steps as fast as I could without tripping, jumping the last four steps. Sliding on my socks in the dining room, I turned and ran for the living room. My goal? The door. But, within arm’s length, I felt a pull on the back of my shirt, a pull so strong I was on my back in no time. When I looked up, I found my father standing above me with the belt lying limp in his left hand. I yelled, “NO!” He turned me over on my stomach, lifted my shirt up and let off his first lick, all the while me fighting him. “Ahhh!” I cried. “Please, Daddy!” He gave me his second lick. As he raised his belt for the third, I pulled myself backward out of his grip and out of my shirt, leaving him with his fist a hold of the shirt no longer on my back. As he scrambled off his knees and onto his feet, I jerked the front door open and ran for my life.

Outside, in the driveway, was my mom and my brother, Logan, pulling groceries out of the Porsche. Spotting me, they froze. “My baby,” Mom said. “What did he do to you?” Logan asked, angry.

Not stopping, I hopped off the porch and kept running. I could’ve sworn I felt him on my tail, but when I reached the end of our street and started rounding the corner, I spotted Dad and Logan on the ground of our front yard, Logan on top, laying down punches.
But, I didn’t stop there, I kept going. I didn’t know where I was going, all I knew was that I was getting as far away from home as I could. I ran across the bridge, cutting through the local gas station, down Hamilton-Cleves Road, and into a small subdivision just across from Dollar General. Breathing hard, crying, I ran to the front door of my friend’s house, ripped the screen door open and hammered on their door.
Her mother answered it. “Why, hello, Tyler.” She smiled.
“Where’s Stephanie?” I asked, wheezing, running pass her already making for the stairs leading to the place where I knew she’d be.
“In her bedroom…Is there something wrong, Sweetheart?” she hollered over my feet stomping up the staircase.
I ignored her.
I found Stephanie sitting on the floor in her pajamas with her Game Cube controller in her hands and her eyes glued to the glowing screen. Without even acknowledging her, I slammed and locked the door and dragged my feet across her carpeted floor and flopped on top of her bed.
Within two seconds, the game and TV was off and she was at my side. “What the heck happened to you?” she asked, concerned. “Where’s your shoes, your shirt? Why are you crying? Where do you get those scars? They’re all over your back!” she said tracing them.
I opened my mouth to explain, or to lie, I don’t know. But it didn’t matter, I didn’t even have enough air to say a word.
“It’s okay, Tyler.” She held my hand. “Just calm down. Breathe with me.” She began breathing in and out in exaggerated breaths. I mimicked her the best I could, but it was hard. My mind was going a mile a minute. When it wasn’t helping, she took my hand and planted my palm to the center of her chest and so did she with hers to my chest. The rhythm of her heartbeat helped, it gave me something else to concentrate on. When our heartbeats matched, she asked, concerned, “Better?”
I nodded.
“Now tell me what happened,” she demanded.
I looked away from her and down at my hands, picking at the hem of her quilt. I couldn’t bring myself to look at her as I tell her. I just started spitting it out as fast as a boy like me could, “It’s my dad. He was in his study all night, hasn’t even slept yet. That’s where he drinks, you know? And, well, this morning, I tried getting the comics he took from me and I slipped and fell and so did the paint. I didn’t mean to do it, but it was all over the garage before I could stop it! I should’ve just told him as soon as it happened. But he locked himself in there! I was going to wait until he was sobered up, but never got a chance. He just attacked me with his belt before I could make a run for it!”
There was a pause.
“Was this the first time something like this happened?” she asked.
I opened my mouth to say “yes” but she gave that look of hers. That look that said, Don’t you dare lie to me, Mr. O’Connell. I licked my chapped lips and shook my head and said, “No. It’s not.” I felt tears rush to my eyes, and before I even had a chance to look away or stop them, they spilled over and stained my cheeks. I brought my hands up to my face, hiding myself from her, and threw myself into a nearby pillow. Muffled, I sobbed and cried over and over, “I just want it to stop. Please, God, make it stop.”
I felt her hop onto the bed, to the right of me. She leaned on my back, lying her head on my shoulders. “My dad’s going to be home soon. We can talk to him. He went through the same thing. He’ll help us.”
“Nobody call help me!” I cried into the pillow, still sobbing. Taking my face out of the pillow, sitting up, I said in a shaky voice, “He’s just going to find out, Stephanie! He’s just going to find out and it’s going to start all over again!” I paused, studying her face. “Please, don’t say anything,” I asked. “Promise you’re not going to say anything?”
That’s when she hugged me. Combing my hair with her fingers, she whispered into my ear, “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, Tyler. You hear me? I’m not going to let that happen.”
Knowing that this was one promise I couldn’t get her to keep, I stopped fighting, buried my face in her hair, and hugged her tight.