The call suddenly cut out.
“Fuck!” I nearly threw the phone across the room. My heart was a war drum, hammering in my ears. Misfit’s brows creased as she looked at my shocked expression.
“What happened?” She asked, her voice deadly calm.
“Danny’s lost it. He’s gone for Squeeks. She’s locked herself in the bathroom. She … she sounded…” I didn’t finish, just hurried around the room pulling on my clothes.
Misfit’s eyes darkened, “Let’s go.” I didn’t argue. Didn’t hesitate. Flying out the door quicker than my legs could keep up with, our bodies hurled into the car. The tyres letting off smoke along the road as I set off at speed.
I barely remember the drive there, my eyes darting to my phone as I tried to call Squeeks back. My own anger clouded my concentration as I nearly drove straight into another car.
“Give me the phone,” Misfit demanded, snatching it from my hand. Putting it on loudspeaker as it rang to the answering machine each time. The tyres screamed as I swerved into the curb outside the house, the engine barely cut before I was out, door slamming behind me. The shouting punched through the walls, Danny’s voice unhinged and monstrous. I could already hear him, along with high, terrified sobs layered beneath it. Squeeks!
“Shit, shit, shit!” I sprinted to the front door, shouldered it open so hard it cracked against the wall, the entire house vibrating with noise. Misfit was right behind me, her boots pounding across the pavement. I froze in place, eyes frantically scanning the space.
“I’ll fucking kill you, Squeeks!” Danny’s voice ripped through the air like a jagged blade, bouncing off the walls, sick with rage. Then I saw it. A smear, thick and dark weaving up the stairs towards the noise. Was that blood? Who’s fucking blood was that? My lungs locked as realisation hit like a train. My voice was barely a whisper as I set out towards the stairs at pace.
“No!” Two stairs at a time, slipping once, catching myself on the handrail as my eyes followed the trail. It led up to the landing. A gory, bloodied hand smear streaked the faded wallpaper, and there at the top was a shape crumpled in the hallway. My breath left me all at once.
“Mum …?” I staggered forward. Her body lay face down, limbs twisted unnaturally, blood pooling out from beneath her head like a grotesque halo. Danny's thundering continued, but the sound drifted into a dull numbness as I dropped to my knees beside her, hands trembling as they hovered over her back. I couldn’t touch her. Couldn’t bring myself to. She looked…she looked like she might still move. Any second. Maybe she’d turn over and mutter something under her breath, scold me for getting involved like she always would. But she didn’t. The blood was everywhere. Thick, dark. Already drying around her fingers, in her hair. Her eyes were still open. And I just sat there. Breathing shallow, as if I breathed too deeply, it’d all become real. From down the hall, Danny’s voice punched through the static in my head.
“You’re dead! You fucking whore!” The door rattled violently under his fists. The kind of fury that makes your skin crawl. Then something broke through the noise. A touch. Not rough, not forcing, just… steady. Misfit’s hand, firm on my shoulder. Her voice was low and close to my ear.
“Screech.” It didn’t feel real. Nothing did. But that pressure anchored me, made me realise I wasn’t floating. “There’s nothing we can do for her now.” Her words hit like a hammer. I still couldn’t look away. My mum. Gone. Just like that. Gone. My body hadn’t even begun to process it yet. I was a statue carved out of grief. And Danny’s voice, that constant, hateful roar from down the hall, kept snapping through the dullness like lightning.
Misfit was beside me now. Solid and unflinching.
“Screech, Screech, listen to me,” she said again, firmer this time, like she was dragging me up from underwater. I wanted to stay down there. Wanted to drown in it. But her voice wouldn’t let me. Then she was in front of me. Fingers on my face, guiding my eyes away from the body on the floor and up towards her. Her grip was careful, but commanding, and I finally looked at her. The world started tilting back into focus.
“If we can get him away from that door, even for a second, you can get her out.” Her words cutting through the fog.
Squeeks. She was still in there. Still alive. And he was going to kill her if we didn’t do something.
“I’ll create a distraction. Something that will draw him out, or at least away from the bathroom door.” Misfit whispered. “You need to be ready. The second he moves, you get to that door, get Squeeks, and get out. You understand?” She pressed her thumb into my cheek, grounding me once more. I blinked. Once. Twice. I didn’t trust my voice yet.
“Good. Stay here. Be ready.” She let go and stood, already scanning the wreckage of the hallway like she could shape it into a battlefield. The blood now on my hands was already drying into my skin, crusting in the creases of my knuckles, under my nails. I could hear Danny’s guttural snarls from just down the hall. The door to the bathroom rattled again, his voice breaking through like a rusted saw.
She stepped out like a phantom, calm but deliberate, and for a split second, the chaos stilled. I couldn’t see her face clearly from where I was crouched, but I knew her tone. Whatever she was about to do, it was going to be fast and reckless.
Danny saw her and barked out a confused, furious demand, “Who the fuck are you?!” I could hear the twist in his voice. He wasn’t just angry anymore; he was derailed. That was her opportunity. The exact opening she needed.
There was a flicker of movement, a sharp motion from her hand, and then the flash of steel. My heart jolted just as the knife left her fingers. It was a clean throw, brutal and efficient. The wet thunk of it hitting his flesh was sickening and intimate in the tight corridor, and Danny’s reaction was instant. A monstrous, pained howl tore out of him, vibrating through the floor beneath me.
I had to move. Now.
As he roared and staggered backwards, clutching the knife in his shoulder like it was some ancient betrayal, I pressed my hand against the wall to steady myself and moved. The bathroom door was just ahead. Danny was entirely focused on Misfit now; allhis madness honed into something even more dangerous. He yanked the blade from his arm with a sound I’ll never forget. Wet and ripping. He stared down at it like he didn’t feel the blood, didn’t notice the pain, just rage, raw and boiling.
He took one pounding step toward her. Then another. She turned and, in one swift motion, sprinted down the stairs. Her boots pounded like thunder, but all I cared about was the sound of Danny going after her, crashing behind like a monster unchained. Knocking past me, unfazed by my presence, he had a new target. That’s how far gone he was.
The moment he vanished down the stairs, I slipped forward. My hand found the bathroom handle. Banging against the door, my voice low and breaking, “Squeeks …. Squeeks, it’s me open up!” The door creaked, and there she was, tears tracking down her cheeks, her breath coming in terrified hiccups. She instantly wrapped her arms around me, gripping on for dear life.
“Come on,” I whispered, rubbing her upper arms, heart thundering. “When I open the door, I want you to keep your eyes shut,” I said, gently cupping the side of her face. “Nice and tight. No matter what you hear. No matter what you smell. Just hold onto me and don’t let go, alright?”
She blinked, something catching in her throat, and then she nodded again. Trusting me like she always had. “Promise me! Don’t open them until I tell you to, ok. My car's outside, I’ll take you there.”
She nodded, her voice croaking low as the question I was dreading came from her, “Is Mum ok?” My own composure was breaking, my eyes beginning to fill as I looked at my bloodied hands. I paused, letting out a deep breath. I couldn’t tell her, how could I tell my baby sister our mum was dead? It would instantly break her, making our escape even more painful. I shook my head as I placed my forehead against hers, her sobs becoming more erratic. I mustered everything I had to holdmyself together, gripping her hand in mine and opening the door.
“Eyes shut now, Squeeks,” She squeezed them tight and grabbed hold of my jacket, knuckles white. I guided her with one hand firm on her back, the other curled protectively around her, trying to shield her from it all. From the ruin. From the blood. From him. Every step past Mum’s body sent needles through my chest, like I was being split in half. But I couldn’t break. Not yet. Not in front of her.
