“Get in your bedroom, Missy Girl, and don’t you come out till I say so,” Mama says.
“Why, Mama?” I ask, terrified by the fear on her face.
The headlight of a motorcycle shines through our broken blinds, lighting up the dimmed inside of our mobile home, before the bike’s motor dies and the light flicks off.
It’s the boyfriend. One of the many boyfriends Mama’s had. But this one, with his blue hair and smoke-filled jacket, I hate the most. The way he looks at me makes me scared. Scared what he could do to me and terrified what he could do to Mama.
Mama shakes my shoulders, bringing my attention back to her. “Missy, go!”
I do as she says and turn toward my room, flipping the switch outside my bedroom door to turn on the light, but Mama instantly shuts it off.
“He can’t know you’re here. Not a word, Missy Girl. Not a word. Ya hear me?”
“But Mama—” My pleas are cut short by the boyfriend’s loud banging on the front door.
“I’m coming,” Mama yells impatiently.
Moments later, I listen from underneath my desk in my bedroom as their words quickly morph from a disagreement to heated anger. I hear the boyfriend’s thudding boots stumble noisily around the tiny living room.
“You’re drunk. I don’t want Missy to come home and find a lazy sack of trash sittin’ on my couch,” Mama says in none too nice a tone.
“What’d you call me?” he says.
“Get out, Jed.”
“Scared your daughter’s gonna come home and find a drunk? That’s funny coming from you. I doubt she even knows what it’s like to have a mama that’s sober,” he says.
“Stop it,” Mama snaps.
My heart pounds in my chest. I wrap my arms around my knees, hoping that somehow the darkness won’t touch me if I disappear into myself. But the darkness consumes me, and my mind comes alive with vibrant horrors of what is beyond my bedroom door.
Then I hear Mama’s scream, followed by another.
“Mama!” In a burst of panic, I flee from under the desk, feeling around for the doorknob, only to realize Mama has locked me inside.
“Mama!” I yell. “Don’t you hurt her.” I kick and scream, tears pouring down my face, hot and thick. The darkness curls aroundme, strangling me, suffocating me from the outside in with only my greatest nightmare for company. “Mama!”
I fold my arms around my knees, just like I had all those years ago, and sink small into the darkness, my voice hoarse. I’m unsure if I’ve been calling for help or for Mama all this time. The weight of the night presses down on me until my muscles shake beneath my skin, and I lie down in the darkness.
Stars. Where are the stars?I think before my eyes close and exhaustion promises a respite from the pain.
“Missy?”
The sound of my name jerks me upward.
“I don’t think that was her,” a voice says.
“It was. I know it.”
“Colton?” My heart triples its speed—his voice a burst of hope. “Colton! I’m down here.”
“Missy!” Colton yells my name with desperation.
I call for him twice more, leading him to me with my voice, until I see a tall familiar form cresting the top of the small cliff.
“Colton.” My voice breaks.
“Missy!” In one swift movement, Colton’s shadowy outline crouches down, stabilizes himself with one arm on the ground, then jumps, landing not too far from me. “Missy!” His hands pad the darkness, and I stretch out my arms. He grips my hand and sinks to the ground until his face is right in front of mine. His arms find their way around me, his hand cradling my head against his chest.
