“Ivan helped me set this rental up,” Mom says. “It’s furnished already and under his name. We’ll live here for now.”
For now.
“Will we go to school here?”
“Yes, starting tomorrow. I have all three of you registered.”
“What about football?” Ben says. “I’m assuming we won’t be playing for our old team anymore.”
“No, but once we get settled in one place permanently, you can try out for the team there,” Mom says.
“Eh, football versus making sure my mom and sister are safe?” Nick says. “That’s an easy choice.”
We carry our few bags into the townhouse. It’s a three bedroom with a dated but functional kitchen and an attached living room. The whole place is small, but it’s quiet and calm.
“This place is alarmed,” Mom says. “And the community is gated. You can’t get inside without a keycard or passcode.”
“Are you going to report him?” I ask her.
“It won’t be enough to put him away,” she says. “It will be his word against ours. The law will catch up to him, though. Ivan’s working on several ways to put him behind bars.”
My father has a history of petty theft, all when he was under the influence.
“Ivan’s building a case against him?” Nick says.
“Yes, but he says he needs more time to make sure it sticks,” Mom says.
She puts her arm around me. “Let’s get you into your bedrooms.”
My bed is twin-sized with pink sheets and a white comforter. I unpack my few belongings. My laptop goes on top of the built-in desk and my phone next to it.
Other than that, I don’t have anything to my name. Not anymore.
I have a momentary twinge of sadness when I realize I won’t be able to interview for the editor position for next year. Or say goodbye to Mr. Colby. Or think about the Winter Formal. Even if I wasn’t planning to attend, just knowing it was out there was a touchstone.
Tonight, in the span of ten minutes, nearly all of my touchstones disappeared.
Then, I hear Nick and Ben in the bedroom next door. They’re joking over who gets the window bed.
I smile. I still have three touchstones, and they’re all in this house with me. I have so much to be grateful for, and I’m going to focus on that tonight. Plus, tomorrow’s my first day at a new school, and I need to be ready.
I climb into bed and drift into a fitful sleep.
Chapter Seven
Eighteen Months Later
Skylar
Just before my fifteenth birthday, we fled Indiana for Connecticut.
Ivan was keeping tabs on my father, and he would occasionally show up at the town poker games to try to get information. One of those times, he learned that my father was catching wind of where we were. And so, Ivan made sure to keep the poker game going later than usual so Mom, Nick, Ben, and I could drive out of state in a different car with Connecticut plates that Ivan had delivered to our door that night. We left our old car behind, and hopefully any trace of us as well.
I like Connecticut. The kids at the school are friendly, and I just wrote my first piece for the school paper. Nick and Ben are settling in also, and we’re slowly finding our footing as a family of four. When I turned sixteen, we had a small party with just our family and our neighbor over for a quiet evening of cake and Thai food. It was the best birthday I’ve had in years because I wasn’t living in fear in my own home.
A year and a half has gone by quickly. I’m always on alert, but without my father living with us, life is amazingly calm. And I’ve actually felt safe.
The school bell rings, signaling the end of English Lit. I pack up my bag and walk out of the room. As I leave the school grounds, I get the distressing sensation that I’m being watched. Ivan had warned us all to stay vigilant; the case he’s building against my father is still ongoing, and as a result, he’s still free.
