Chapter Two, The Nightmare Begins

After spending an hour on my essay for English class, I was ready to call it a night. I reach for my phone to check my messages, and I see one from Hannah. I quickly read over her text that had me smiling.

I hate these stupid essays. Why can’t the teacher have us write about something more interesting, instead of things that happened before I was born, she text?

I could see her frustrated face in my mind as she typed this. I began to type a response. I know how frustrating Ms. Peter's class can be. I finally finished mine. It only took me an hour, lol. Just think of it this way, we only have a couple more months left before we graduate. I finish typing to her.

She was quick to respond. “Very true, this still sucks. I dread her class tomorrow. I know she will give us an assignment for this weekend. I'm so sick of homework. I want to focus on my date with Kevin this weekend, not do some stupid assignment.

Ready with my reply, “maybe she won't be hard on us this weekend. Are you still picking me up tomorrow morning?”

The sound of my uncle knocking on my door made me look up from my phone. "Can you come downstairs for a minute?" he asks.

"Yeah, give me a second," I call out to him as I look back down at my phone to see if Hannah had to text me back.

"Yeah, same time as always," she texted.

"Kristen hurry up," he calls again.

"Hold on," I yell back to him as I finish texting Hannah that I will see her tomorrow morning.

My door comes open as my uncle steps into the room with an angry face. "I told you to come downstairs," he says as he walks over to me. Without warning, he reaches over, grabbing me by my arm.

Before I can say another word or react, he pulls me to my feet, making my phone fall to the floor. I'm sorry, I was about ready to come downstairs, I say as he leads me down the hallway. I must be in deep trouble; he looks very mad at me. What the heck did I do this time?

His grip tightens, causing his fingers to dig into my arm. "What's wrong?" I ask as I try to keep up. He never acted this way before, and I feared I'd done something bad this time. I tried to think of anything I might have done that would cause him to be this angry, and I couldn't think of one thing.

"Uncle Mike!" I plead once again. With no response, we approach the top of the steps. This must be bad, oh what did I do. Think Kristen, what could you have done to get into this much trouble?

He began to pull me down the steps of our two-story house. I'm finding it hard to keep up, and my balance is not the best as he pulls me behind him. I try to ask him again, only to get silence. I pull my arm free as I start to protest the brute force he is imposing on me. He turns fast, faster than I expected. What came next, I never saw coming.

His hand came across my face, making me stumble back up the steps. My mind goes blank; the shock of being hit has me floored. He has never hit me. He's never been violent toward me. As he starts back towards me, the look on his face sends chills down my spine. Something's not right. 

He grabs me by my arm again, pulling me up from the step that I had stumbled back on. He pulls me down several steps again, and I am more confused and scared by his actions. I need to get as much distance from him till he calms down. In his state of mind, he will not be rational with me. I can't imagine what I have done for him to be this mad at me. My mind races as the scene unfolds before my eyes.

I break ahold of his death grip on my arm once again. I stumble, but not as much as before. I turn and get up a few steps, only to feel him grab ahold of my leg. I lose my balance and hit the steps face first. My vision swims, and my face lights up like fire. I cant see, and the pain in my face has me in tears. I could hear him coming up the steps, and he was now almost on top of me.

"Stop! Stop!" I scream as I hit him with my hands in hopes of fighting him off. He's trying to grab me but can't get a good grip. This only causes us to slip down the steps with me on my back. My back takes blunt force contact with the steps as I slip down more steps. We end up at the bottom of the steps, tangled in each other. I feel his hand on my arm as he starts to pull me to my feet. I have only a second to get my balance before he starts to pull me through the house as he struggles to get his breath. 

"For fucks sake, why did you have to fight me? You would have made it easy on the both of us if you would have just come with me without a fight," he hisses under his breath.

I began to panic at his tone of voice. I start to cry from the pain and the sheer terror running wild through my body. I know that no matter how much I fight against him, I'm no match for his strength. I can tell he's getting angrier because of how rough he got with me. I must find a way to outsmart him. I beg and plead for him to stop, "you're scaring me."

He spins around and backhands me across the face. I fall to the floor with a hard thud. More tears welled up in my eyes as I looked up at him in disbelief.

"Shut up!" he shouts at me. This can't be happening!

He reaches down, grabbing me by my neck, making me get to my feet as I continue to cry. The tears run down my face as I cry even harder. He drags me by my arm over to the basement door. He opens the door as he keeps his hold on me. The thought of being dragged down into the basement freaks me out. I don't like the basement. I never go into the basement. I don't want to know what's down there.  

I can't help but panic at this point as he pulls me down the steps. This is not right. I hear someone talking. Who brings a teenage girl down into the basement after beating the crap out of her? I had to get away from this situation before something bad happened. I had this one chance to try to get away before I faced what was down there. 

I push my body backward with everything I have, causing him to lose his grip on me. I try to brace myself for the fall. I use my foot to kick him, causing him to lose his balance. He falls forward down the steps, giving me the perfect opportunity I needed to getaway. I grab at the steps ahead of me, pulling myself to my feet. I stumble through the door of the basement, turn and shove the door hard to close it. With shaky hands, I fumble with the lock on the doorknob, then put the chain on the door to give me a few more minutes before he can kick it down.

I run up the steps to my room as fast as I can.  When I get to my room, I turn and lock the door behind me. I grab my chair from my desk and shove it under the doorknob. I then grab a pair of shoes from my floor, slip them on, then grab one of my hoodies from the floor. I slip it over my head when I hear footsteps coming up the steps. I began to panic, knowing that he would come through the door in a matter of seconds. I look around in desperation when I spot the window as my only option of escape.  I run to the window, trying to get it unlocked. I fight to get the window open when I hear the doorknob start to rattle, making my heart pound in my chest. I manage to get the window open when my uncle begins to hit the door.

"Kristen, open this damn door," he shouts as he starts to ram the door with his body. I can hear the wood beginning to crack.

I turn toward the window and start to climb out when I remember my phone. I turn and spot it on the floor as the door to my room comes crashing in. I turn back toward the window and make my way through as he runs across the room. Before I manage to get myself completely through the window, he grabs one of my legs, causing me to fall out of the window face-first onto the porch roof.

He manages to keep his grip on my leg as I squirm to get loose. I try to reach the edge of the roof to get leverage as he pulls on my leg tighter. I look back, and he's halfway hanging out of the window. I take my other foot and put it against the house. I push with everything in me, freeing my leg from his grasp.

He leans out the window, trying to get ahold of me again. I kick at his hands as he fights to try to get out the window. I kick at him harder, causing me to lose my balance. I start to slide down the slope of the roof. I know it's too late when I reach the edge of the roof. I slip off the edge of the roof of our two-story house. This is going to hurt.

I hit the ground on my back, and everything goes black for a second. A second later, everything comes back to life, as I panic when I can't get my breath. I struggle to get air back into my lungs but remain paralyzed and sprawled out on the lawn. I know I had to move; I had to get up, but I couldn't, no matter how much I tried. Run . . . Run . . .  I scream in my head as I gasp, trying to get air back into my lungs. After a minute, my lungs fill with precious oxygen, allowing me to move. I manage to roll over, get to my feet, and start to run.

I have never been this scared in my entire life as I run to get to the main road. I was halfway across the yard when my foot slipped on the wet grass, making me fall to my hands and knees. I quickly push myself off the ground, getting to my feet. I freeze at the sound of my uncle's voice. 

"Kristen! Get back here. Don't make me run after you," he shouts. I turn to see him looking down at me from my bedroom window.

"I will find you," he shouts when I turn my back to him and start to run toward the road.

My heart’s racing, knowing he was already on his way down the steps to come after me, and I knew he would catch up with me if I didn't hurry. By the time I made it to the road, it was dark. The entire neighborhood was asleep. I should have been asleep at this hour, being a school night. I run down the road that’s lit only by the streetlights. There are only a few houses on my block, and I knew it would be too late to pound on the doors for help. No one would hear my screams for help in time before he got his hands on me again, so I continued to run toward the town square only a few blocks away.

A few raindrops hit me in the face signaling the start of a downpour. I ran down the road as the rain began to pour. The sound of the raindrops fills the quiet night as I pick up my pace. Out of all the times for a downpour, this couldn't get any worse, I thought. This all seemed unreal as I stopped to catch my breath. I stopped to catch my breath. I was gasping for air as the pain in my ribs burned with every breath I took. I took one deep breath and began to run as I held my side to make it another block to reach the town. Once there, I hoped to find a store that had late hours.  

The first thing that came into view were two large buildings. This could give me some cover until I could come up with something else. I made it halfway down the alley when I start to throw up. I held onto the wall to keep myself on my feet as the dry heaves hit me over and over. Tears ran down my cheeks as my body shook violently from the dry heaves and the cold rain that continued to rain down over me. I collapse to the ground as the pain radiated through my body. I try to catch my breath as I fight the urge to give up. I knew that I wasn't a quitter. I wanted nothing to do with what I had witnessed earlier, which kept me motivated not to give up. I slow my breathing down as the dry heaves slowly came to a stop. I know I couldn't stay long.

I slowly get back to my feet as my whole body protests. I make my way down the alley, using the walls to help me stay upright as I hold my ribs. When I reached the end of the alley, I look both ways before making a quick decision to take the one that didn't have any dead ends.

I pick up my pace to a slow jog until I get to the end of the alley. I peek my head around the side. I don't see anyone. I run across the road to another set of buildings. I knew the layout pretty well. Growing up around town gave me a little bit of advantage. I knew I had to pick up my pace, or he would catch up to me eventually, so I speed up till I was running again.

I stopped at the end of the alley, completely out of breath again, and my body couldn't go any further. I look around in desperation till I spot a place to hide to give me a chance to get my stamina back.

Sliding down the side of the building, I stay on my feet just in case I need to run, keeping my eyes on the entrance. My lungs pull air in as sweat runs down my face. I move my wet hair out of my way. Overwhelmed, I can no longer hold back my tears as the betrayal and fear wash over me. I was now all alone, betrayed, and wanted for unknown reasons. I had so many questions racing in my head with no answers. I can't seem to get his face out of my mind when he attacked me for no reason at all. I had never seen him that angry with me, even when I pushed him to his limits. It was clear that something snapped; he was not the same man who raised me as his own child. It was clear that something wasn't right.

A noise not far away pulls me from my thoughts. I look up in the direction of the sounds. Fear begins to spike through me as the sounds grow closer. I fear he has found me. I manage to stand up without making much sound as I make my way toward the end of the alley. I can only hope that in the darkness, I can outrun him. I know if I keep running, I will give myself away, so I look around in desperation for a spot to hide.

I manage to get around the corner, drop down, and hide beside a large metal garbage bin. Pushing myself against the wall, I try my best to conceal myself in the shadows. I see a few bags of trash and a few boxes that give me the idea of a perfect hiding place. I move the bags in front of me and the boxes to make them look like random trash that someone threw out.

My breathing is erratic, my heart is pounding, and all the adrenaline running through my body is taking its toll on me. The smell is about to make me gag as I try desperately to calm myself so I can focus on the situation. Who was I kidding? I was just a teenage girl, helpless and defenseless against him. I had a bad feeling about this whole situation, and I was not sure I was smart enough to figure a way out. When I hear footsteps closing in on me, I freeze. My whole body becomes stiff, and I quit breathing as my body trembles in fear. Please don't find me. I shout in my head as the footsteps stop. With every hair standing on end, I fight against my body's urge that screams for me to run. Did he find me? Can they see me? I wanted to move the box to see what was going on, but I knew better. Knowing if he spotted me, I wouldn't be able to outrun him from this distance.

I'm exhausted, and my body aches all over. All I can do is hold still and not make any noise. I make myself focus and try to be as calm as possible. The footsteps start again, and they are growing closer. I listen without moving a muscle as they walk right past me without stopping. They move out of the alley, and I let out the breath I was holding.

I move the bags and boxes very slowly to make any sounds that would draw any attention. I stand up and walk to the end of the alley. I peer around to see two men that I don't recognize making their way up the street. I try to make out more details, but they are already too far away for me to get a good look at their faces. I was relieved to know that neither one of them was my uncle. I wonder who they are and why they are looking for me. I jump when one of the men shouts. I freeze as I watch them take off, running out into the street. 

I take one quick look and slowly take off, running in the opposite direction. I'm trying to figure out where I can hide. My mind is blank as I look around in desperation. I'm almost to the end of the building leading to the main street when I look around. I spot a fire escape ladder hanging down only a few feet from the ground. I make a quick decision to take a chance to hide.

I jump up to grab ahold of the ladder; it makes a grinding sound as it comes down. I begin to climb up the rusty steps that threaten to give way to my weight. I climb onto the platform, then reach down and grab the top of the ladder to pull it up so no one can reach it from the ground. Holding the rails, I climb up a few more steps putting me further off the ground. 

When I reach the top, I find a window that's busted out. The broken glass litters the platform around the window. Carefully I stick my head inside to see if the building appears abandoned. When I'm sure that the building is empty, I slide the end of my sleeve over my hand so I can knock the rest of the window out. I take one last look around before I slide one leg in first, followed by the rest of my body. Holding on to the window frame, I steady myself as I pull my other leg through the window. Peering out, I look for any signs of anyone that might be around, only to find the streets are quiet with no one in sight. 

I step back from the window. I find that every muscle aches, making my body scream for relief. I walk over to the wall and slide down to sit on the ground. I lean up against the wall and bring my knees to my chest. I try to get control of my body that's shaking violently from my wet clothes and all the adrenaline running through me. I listen for any sounds that signal anyone's approach but only hear my ragged breathing.

With a jolt, I wake in a panic, realizing I must have dozed off sometime during the night from exhaustion. I look around to make sure I'm still alone.

The room is empty, with trash and broken items littering the floors. The walls have wallpaper with several spots that have peeled down the walls.

I manage to roll over, getting to my feet even though my body protests from the position I slept in all night. Making my way across the floor, avoiding several holes and cracks, I make my way toward the door. I push the door, making it creek on its rusty hinges.

Sticking my head out, I look to see if I can find anything to help me. I wasn't going to get my hopes up with the way everything looked. I make my way down the hall without stepping in the damaged parts of the floor. I find another door in the hallway. I push the door open to find a bathroom that had seen better days. A broken mirror hanging sideways on the wall over a dirty old skink stained with rust and grime.

I take my sleeve to my shirt and wipe a spot on the mirror to see how I look. I was curious about my injuries, especially how badly my face hurt. I knew that I had damage; I didn't realize how bad. When I get enough of the mirror wiped clean, my reflection shakes me to my core.

My poor face is a mess, with makeup running down my cheeks as the bruises show from underneath it all. I reach up and rub my face, but the sting from the cut that runs along my jaw makes me stop. Anger runs through me as I take in my appearance. I look like I got hit by a car with this amount of damage to my face. How could he do this to me? How could he say he loved me like his own child and turn around and attacked me?

Tears sting my eyes as I choke down a sob that threatens to undo me. My dark hair hangs flat past my shoulders in a tangled mess. The cut is not too deep that it would require stitches. I needed to clean it before any infection set in. My eyes look swollen from crying through the night. I pull my eyes from the mirror to assess the rest of my injuries.

I pull up my shirt and see a large black and blue bruise that matches my poor face. I hear something hit the floor. I reach down and see my necklace that broke when I was trying to get away. It was my mother's necklace that my uncle gave me when I was a young child. I put it in my pocket, so I don’t lose it.

I begin to look at the rest of my injuries. I run my fingers along with the black bruise, making me flinch. I run my hand along my back, and it hurts in several places. I can only guess what my back looks with how it feels. I had no idea how bad it was last night with all the adrenaline raging through me.

I pull my shirt down, then slide my pants down to reveal more bruises covering several parts of my legs. I don't remember how I got those exactly. I figure it was when I was fighting him off. I pull my pants up, then fix my clothes so they don't look bad. I try to soothe my poor hair down to find it's a lost cause.

I wonder if this building has running water still. I turn the knob on the sink, hoping there might be some water, only to be disappointed when nothing happens. Just my luck as usual. What to do? I take my shirt sleeve and wipe my face the best I can to get as much dirt off my face as I can. I wipe only to find that it's not dirt but bruises that are starting to form on my face from when I fell. It looks no better than when I started. He beat the crap out of me with just his hands. I can't let anyone see me like this, or they will grow suspicious.

I head out of the bathroom, making my way through the building to find old broken furniture with trash lying around everywhere. I head back to the room where I came in last night. Sliding down the wall, I decided to wait till dark to travel in the shadows of the night, to keep hidden from the world.

I pull my knees up to rest my head. I reach into my pocket and pull out my necklace. I fiddle with the locket that always gave me comfort, knowing I had a piece of my mother with me. The locket was in the shape of a heart with strange writing engraved on the back in a language that I couldn't understand. Out of a nervous tick, I would rub my thumb along the engravings of the words.

When I was four years old, the necklace was given to me when my mother passed away. My uncle told me that I should take care of it and never take it off. I couldn't remember my mother or anything before I started living with my uncle after the accident that took my parents' lives. I cherished the necklace in hopes that my memories would come back one day, and I could remember the face of my mother. So, I never took it off since I was a small child, knowing it meant something special to my mother.  

I sit back, letting my head rest against the wall as my thoughts run wild. I can't help but get angry when I think about what my uncle had done to me. It was a side of him that I had never seen before. He was so mad at me, which had me confused. I tried to think of anything I had done to make him this angry with me, but I couldn't think of anything.

I've always tried to be a good child and always did what he told me to do, so his behavior confused me. I thought that he loved me as if I was his own daughter. He had raised me since I was four. I had no other family other than him, and I could honestly say it wasn't that bad growing up. He had taught me many things, and I had many happy childhood memories, except for the one night he snapped.  The hate that I saw in his eyes for me made no sense to me.  I was so scared as I begged and pleaded with him to stop. I still didn't know why he wanted to get me into the basement so badly.

As I ponder my thoughts, the sky slowly turns dark, signaling me to get out of here. I peek out the window to make sure that no one will see me as I make my way through the window the same way I entered the previous night. Carefully I make my way down the ladder that threatens to give way as it protests from my weight. I jump to the ground then run to the end of the alley.

I quickly look around the corner to make sure no one is around. I run down the street till I reach the park in hopes that it could provide better cover. I make my way through the park as I think of where to go. I can't run forever; I have to find a safe place to hide. Where do I go from here? I'm only seventeen with no other family other than my uncle, that has turned on me, leaving me all alone. I have to figure out what to do if I am going to survive the night.