the door, screaming until my voice was

ed in a corner, wrapping my arms around myself, trying to fight off the t

. The door creaked open, and my mother's

call your husb

ed me back into the house, into the living room, and sat me on the

was filled with worry. "Where are

mother commande

aky breath.

money, son," my father's voi

, his tone shifting from worried to suspi

t," Caleb hissed, p

reedy, hateful face

ed, as loud as I could. "It's a trap!

d the call. He backhanded me across th

he spat. "You'

ess felt absolute. I curled into a ball on the dirt floor, the side of my face throbbing. Bu

n walls. I remembered a small, grimy window there. It was high up, but it face

ed shut. I used a loose rock to hammer at it, the noise muffled by the thick walls. Finally, with

n Molly's house. Hope, small but fierce, flick