"Can we please leave?" My mother's been sleeping in Ryan's room, staying away from my father since my parent's relationship has become a volatile powder keg. They've been yelling and screaming at each other each day for over a week now, but my dad's erratic behavior really frightened us last night.

Around three am, he came into each of our bedrooms, holding his baseball bat in one hand, standing by our beds. He was totally silent. He didn't yell, just glared at us as if in his mind, we were intruders.

After he went back to his room, I was so frightened I had to use the bathroom. It's at the end of the hallway, at the top of the stairs. After I finished, I wanted a glass of milk to calm my stomach. I didn't turn on the hallway light, afraid of his wrath, instead I was planning on using the kitchen light once I was downstairs. Holding the railing for guidance, I descended the first few steps before I abruptly stopped. When I looked down into our living room, I couldn't see the floor. After the first three steps, the stairs descended into nothing but blackness. The hair at the back of my neck stood on end. There was no way I was placing my foot into what looked like a crack in hell. The floor was pitch black, like the inside of an oven. I'd never seen a lack of visibility in our house at night before. Something was spreading throughout our house. Whatever it was, blocked out the light, only visible in the dark. Quickly, I ran back upstairs and jumped into bed beside my mother. I started praying. "Now I lay me down to sleep. The Lord I pray my soul to keep. If I should die..."

I stopped mid sentence. I didn't want to die.
I grabbed my her by the wrist. "Mom, you promised we could leave after Ryan went away to school. Dad's going to use one of the clubs he keeps under his bed on us tonight! I can feel it! Did you see the way he looked at us?"

My mother's face contorted with fear. She'd seen it and she believes me. "Alright, Evie. Grab your things. In the morning, we're going."

The next day, I couldn't believe she said yes. I'm so happy it wasn't a dream. Maybe Ryan will come and live with us wherever we end up. Once my small suitcase is full, I throw as much as I can into some garbage bags. I take one last look at the house before we leave. When I go to take down the little wooden cross to bring it with us, but my mother stops me. "Leave it here, Evie. We'll get another one."

My mother calls her friend, Mrs. Hughes, a no nonsense woman who works with her, to give us a ride to a motel in the next town. She's a few years older than my mother, with a thin scar on her temple. As we check in, the young woman behind the desk gives us a smile. "We're right next to the Sunset Drive in theatre. Free movies. Just turn to channel 17 to get the sound."

Once we're checked in, Mrs. Hughes only stays a few minutes. "Honestly, Claire, if Jack finds out I helped you, I don't know what he'll do." I know the reason she's risking my father's anger to help us. Her first husband was an alcoholic.

Unnerved by her friend's reservations, my mother peers out of the closed blinds. She's acting as if we're fugitives. After Mrs. Hughes leaves she gets on the phone with her sister in Canada. She's speaking in French, but I surmise we're going to go visit and stay there for a while. Our low budget room is on the second floor. Right across from us, I see the drive in movie theatre facing our room. I didn't realize a movie's been playing as I step out onto the balcony. As I watch the movie, my breath catches. On screen, an axe crashes through a white door. The wood splinters and my father's leering face hits through the gash in the door. A thirty foot big screen nightmare is mocking me. "Here's Johnny!"

I snap the curtains shit and walk a few steps back from the balcony. "What the hell?" Why do I feel like something's followed us and is taunting me?