The air in the small apartment was thick with tension. The dim glow of a single lamp cast long shadows across the walls, making the space feel even smaller than it already was. Sarah sat at the kitchen table, her fingers gripping the edge of her chair, while her younger brother, Leo, paced anxiously back and forth.
“We need to talk about this,” Sarah finally said, her voice barely above a whisper. “We can’t just keep pretending everything is okay.”
Leo stopped pacing and looked at her. His eyes, dark with worry, flickered toward the locked door as if he expected someone to burst in at any moment. “I know,” he admitted. “But what do we do? Where do we even go?”
Sarah let out a shaky breath. “I don’t know. But I do know we don’t feel safe here.”
Those words hung heavy in the air. It was the first time either of them had said it out loud, though the feeling had been growing inside them for weeks—maybe even months. Their home, once a place of comfort, now felt more like a trap.
Leo pulled out a chair and sat down across from Sarah. “Do you think—” He hesitated, running a hand through his hair. “Do you think he knows?”
Sarah swallowed hard. “I think he does. I think he’s always known.”
Their stepfather, Mark, had been different lately. More erratic. More unpredictable. The late-night arguments with their mother had turned into something worse. Something dangerous. They never talked about it during the day, but they could hear everything at night—the yelling, the breaking of dishes, the sound of someone crying. And sometimes, when Mark’s anger got out of control, he would take it out on things. Or people.
Leo clenched his fists. “I hate him.”
“I know,” Sarah said, reaching across the table to place a hand over his. “I do too. But we can’t let that control us. We need to be smart.”
Leo looked at their hands, his shoulders tense. “So what do we do?”
Sarah hesitated. She had been thinking about this for a long time but never had the courage to say it. Until now. “We leave.”
Leo’s eyes widened. “Sarah, we can’t just—”
“Yes, we can. We have to.” She squeezed his hand. “Look at us, Leo. We’re scared all the time. We don’t sleep. We flinch when we hear his footsteps. That’s not how we should be living.”
Leo dropped his gaze, his breathing uneven. “Where would we even go?”
Sarah had been planning. She had a friend, Emily, who had offered her a place to stay before. She could reach out. There were shelters, places that helped people like them. It wouldn’t be easy, but anything was better than this.
“I have an idea,” she said. “But we have to be careful. We can’t let Mom know yet. She still thinks she can fix him.”
Leo’s jaw tightened. “She’s wrong.”
“I know. But we can’t save her if she doesn’t want to be saved.” Sarah’s voice wavered. It hurt to say it, but it was the truth. “We have to save ourselves first.”
Silence filled the room again. Then, slowly, Leo nodded. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
Sarah exhaled, feeling the smallest sense of relief. They had a plan now. A way out. Maybe for the first time in a long time, there was hope.
But hope was a fragile thing. And they had to be careful not to let it slip away.
