It was ten at night and they were still arguing. Their voices kept rising and falling like the waves of the ocean. Waiting in my room had become a normal part of my day’s routine. It wasn’t always like this. Before all the yelling and arguing it was just Mom, Camille, Hope, and me. Then Mom met Colin Applegate and fell “in love.” We all knew how Mom was with men. I mean, we each had a different father and all three of them had been long gone before we were even born. We expected Colin to be gone within the month and our Mom pregnant again. Surprisingly, they lasted six months and got engaged. We didn’t expect it to last though because my mother had yet to become let him move in. But then Mom got pregnant with the twins and she got really into beauty pageants. All she did was research the best dress maker and the biggest pageants. The farther she got along in her pregnancy, the more she forgot about us. Colin didn’t bother to hide his annoyance and hatred for us so Hope and I began to spend more time with Camille, our oldest sister, at her apartment. She’s been out of the house two years before Colin came and she was enjoying her independence, Her apartment was a sanctuary where I didn’t have to constantly keep an eye on Amelia who was only 6 and very small. Camille hardly came over to Mom’s anymore because of Colin. He didn’t like any of us. Tonight when she came over I knew something was going to happen. Colin was not in a happy mood and when all three of us were around it worsened violently.

Camille and Colin butted heads over Camille’s job. She had just been promoted to main secretary and had been reassigned to a small town five hours away. She was leaving us behind and now I had to find another place to wait out the day with Hope. Once dinner was over they started arguing about Hope and then me. Even though Mom didn’t agree with all the stuff Colin said, she stuck by him. I left for the room I shared with Hope to do my homework and Camille left around eight after we put Hope to bed. I stayed up until ten until I fell asleep.

I heard him before I saw him. His heavy footsteps pounded against the hall floor. Groggily I sat up as he opened the door.

“How dare you disobey your mother and me!” he roared. Confused, I backed away from him. Colin had been drinking heavily and his smell was over-powering. Hope was awake and was staring at me with sleepy terror filled eyes. I tripped over my backpack and asked, alarmed. “What did I do?”

Colin thundered toward me and grabbed my hair. He pulled it and I pleaded. “What?! What did I do?!”

He pulled me by the hair toward the window. I was screaming from the pain and tripping over countless things. Suddenly Colin released my hair and grabbed the back of my neck. He slammed my face hard into the glass and bellowed, “Why the hell is there a boy at your window at midnight?”

I could barely see past all the blood and tears that were covering my eyes. The glass was cracked but I could see a familiar truck outside on the curb. It was Tom, one of the few friends at school who I had told the truth about my family to. I could tell he had fallen asleep while staying there to make sure I didn’t get hurt. Colin slammed my head against the glass and I screamed again. I saw Tom wake up and look toward my window. Hope cried, “Emily!”

That was the last time in a while that I would hear her talk in her normal voice. Just then I saw Tom’s horrified face and something came over me. I began to hope that Hope and I could escape. Before I knew what I was doing, I punched Colin in his face. Then I grabbed Hope’s hand and the backpack that I kept for emergency’s and ran. Colin was still reeling from my punch when we ran out of the room and slammed the door behind us. I could hear the twins’ cries as we ran into the living room. There stood my mother in her white nightgown. I saw a flicker of concern go across her face as she saw me covered with blood and tears and Hope’s pale white face. I didn’t stop as I pulled the front door open and ran out. Hope was silent as we raced down the stairs and out to the main floor. There we ran into Tom, who was running toward the stairs. I ran into him and broke down, sobbing. He held me tight as Hope clung onto his legs. Just then we heard Colin’s heavy tread on the footsteps. Tom picked up Hope and grabbed my hand. Together we rushed outside into the parking lot. I grabbed Hope from Tom as we ran into the parking lot. He jumped into the front seat as Hope and I dived into the backseat. We saw Colin burst through the lobby door and Tom started backing up as I slammed our door open. Colin grabbed an empty soda can form the floor and threw it at Tom’s car. It hit with a thud as we pulled away. Once we were out of the parking lot and on the road without Colin following us, I was able to cry into Hope’s soft hair. She was so quiet a she quietly clung to me. Then she softly asked, “Emily are we far away from Colin now?”

I nodded as I wiped the tears away from my face. “Yes Hope. We’re safe now.”