Page 17 (1/2)

Prelude

It was raining I love the rain; but not the thunder and lightning The flashing lights aren’t as bad as the angry thunder It res, drink, and men Today I have a double dose of it because there is a thunderstor outside, and es

I had hoped and prayed to God that she would just go to sleep like she usually does But God wasn’t listening today It seeinning to wonder if he even exists, like the preacher who stops by from time to time says he does Momma curses God a lot, so I think she believes in him

The rain soaks through s I snuck out of thein my room as soon as Momma finished with me The raindrops wash away my tears and the blood on the many cuts that Momma left after she went afteron my swollen welts and bruised body, but I was use to the pain

As soon as my bare feet touch down outside rass that separates the run down trailer that I live in to the one that Nik calls home I pray that his mother hasn’t decided to clean his room, that she hasn’t locked thethat he always leaves unlocked for me—just in case

As I step on to the old five gallon bucket that I use as a stepladder I let out a whimper when I find that, yes Nik’s mom has in fact been in his roo now because the rain is cold and I have no shoes, no coat, and noar one of the other surrounding trailers Jesse’s dad is hoo in there when there is the chance that Mr Thornton could find me Drake and Shane’s trailer only has a ss to reach unless one of them helps me

A small sob escapes me and I push the wet, matted hair away from my face, only to winch when I touchthe a and the booze that she is chasing it all with

There was a noise from across the small lawn My mother has coone Heart racing I do the only thing I can think of I pull on the tin that underpins Nik’s trailer I pull and pull, slicing my palms as I do so But finally with a whih so that I can crawl under the trailer

Once I am under I pull the tin back into place I s a scream when I set back and my hand touches the skeleton of a s and then wrap my arms around ain My head leans back against the underpinning and I closethat my mother doesn’t think to look for me here…

I must have fallen asleep When I wake up I hear Nik and Jesse calling ht beside of me on the other side of the tin “Em?”

I reach for the tin and pull it back enough to look out They don’t noticewith Jesse, both have on their band shirts that they let n Jesse has his drum sticks in his left hand while his other is clenched into a fist Nik looks worried “She wouldn’t have gone far”

“That fucking bitch! If I didn’t think that they would take Emmie fro

“But they will, Jess And then she would be in a worse place than she already is At least here we can take care of her” Nik tells the drummer