Ignoring the pain, I slammed my head into his nose as hard as I could. I hit him square in the face. He staggered back, clutching his nose as blood poured down his face.
Not wasting a second, I kicked him hard in his bad leg and he crumpled to the ground.
“You little bitch, you’re gonna pay for that! When I catch you, I’ll strip you naked and hang you up!” he snarled.
Seeing him down, I didn’t stop. I hit him three more times, grabbed a stool and smashed it over his head. The stool shattered with a loud crack and Kennith slumped to the floor, knocked out cold.
Just then, I heard the sound of the door unlocking from the outside. I knew they weren’t coming to help me—they were coming to trap me. Without thinking, I scrambled onto the windowsill, kicked the window open and jumped out.
I hit the ground running, tears streaming down my face, sprinting like my life depended on it. And in a way, it did. I ran all the way home, crying the entire time.
The frantic knocking at the door woke everyone up. When my family heard what had happened, my father’s anger exploded. He threw his teacup to the ground and pointed at my mother, his voice trembling with rage.
“Are the Slaton Family all monsters? How could they do something like this?”
My mother, always the quiet one, didn’t dare say anything at first. But after my father finished his rant, she finally spoke up, her voice barely above a whisper. “Maybe there’s been some kind of mistake?”
“No mistake,” I shot back. “They locked me in that room. It was intentional.”
Without a word, my brother grabbed a stick and headed for the door, but my father pulled him back.
“Where do you think you’re going? If anyone’s dealing with this, it’ll be me.”
As the tension built, I could see things spiraling out of control. “Enough! Fighting won’t solve anything. We need to think this through. We should call the police.”
At the mention of the police, my mother’s face went pale. She shook her head, panic setting in. “No, you can’t call the police! If you do, Kennith’s life will be ruined. He’s the only son the Slatons have.”
My father scoffed. “They brought this on themselves. We’re calling the police tomorrow, no question.”