INTRUDER

18 DAYS BEFORE THE INTRUSION

I went to the emergency room last night because of the beer bottle. I had told them I fell with a glass cup and fell on top of the glass. They cleaned it and disinfected it and told me it would heal in about 3 weeks and I shouldn't worry about it because it wasn't too deep nor too dangerous; it was just a scratch.

The T.V. shatters. Garred slams the control into it.

Ellie and I were watching television when Garred just barged in and started smashing away at the television. He is drunk, he had just drank 4 bottles of beer. He just lost it. Maggie yelled at him to stop but like always he would never listen to her. He smashed the television until the show glitches out and went black.

"Time to go to sleep!" He yells at us.

I shake my head and head towards my room with Ellie. I lay awake in m bed awake with Ellie trying to hear and listen if Garred was going to hit Maggie or something, Then it came, that loud slap. Just like the one that happened twelve days ago. The loud slap that had roared through the house and sent a shiver up our spines. The slap that Maggie fell to the floor with tears streaming down her face like a river. The slap that split the house in half.

I could hear Maggie cry in pain. I told Ellie to go lock herself into the bathroom. I picked up my phone and dialed the police. I told them that my dad had just hit my mom.

"We do not like to get involved in family issues, can we get your mother on the phone. I have sent a dispatcher to your location"

I hang up and slide down my wall, crying. Of course, the police can't do anything. There is no evidence.

The police, surprisingly, arrive within minutes and Garred calls for Maggie to clean up her tears in the room.

"Howdy sir, how are you?" The officer asks my dad.

"I'm fine. What seems to be the problem?" He asks in his "legal" voice.

"We got a call that was not very clear about you hitting your wife which I suspect is one hundred percent false. You would never do that!" The officer exclaims.

"No, I would never do that!" My dad chuckles a bit. He then yells for Maggie to come and talk with the police officer.

"Hi," my mom says in a quiet voice.

"Has this man been hitting you?" The police officer asks her quickly.

"No sir," my mom says after a long pause.

"Okay then, sorry for the bother, I guess it was the darn kids."

The police officer leaves and drives away in his car.

"Get you face out here right now or I will come over there and beat it until you bleed!" Yells Garred across the house.

I slump out of my room and walk up to him. 
"Why? You think that was a good idea?" He asks me.

"Yes, I will not stand you abusing my mother any longer. If mom won't do anything then I will. I will not let you get in the way."

"Excuse me? Do not talk to me like that ever again!"
"I can talk to you however I want because you are not my father!" I scream and push him agains the wall with all my force. He then pushes me back making me feel dizzy. He punches me across the face and I feel like my face has just split into two. The pain is so much, I feel like I am going to faint. Garred lets me go and I fall backwards onto the shattered T.V. on the floor and. I remember nothing after that.

I wake up in a room that is colder than my house. All the sides were white and there was a heart monitor beside me. Beep.. beep.. beep. I looked around and I saw Maggie anxiously looking around all over the place.

"M-m-om w-what happened?" I manage to choke out.

"Shh, don't speak honey."

"Why?"

"He's here." Maggie's tear rolls down her cheek and she quickly wipes it up.

Garred enters the room and I shut my eyes.

"Has she woken up?" He asks.

"No," Maggie lies.

Garred walks out and I can hear his shoes walking away.

"Mom, what happened?" I whisper.

"He hit you and threw you."

I freeze and die when she says those words. My own father almost tried to kill me?

Its impossible to think about but I know it is true.

I try to get up but the pain in my head starts to come back so I lean back down.

How could someone that looked so nice be such a liar and be so hateful? I could never understand that. Why wasn't Garred dead already!? I start to cry and my mom get up and places her hand in mine.

"It's going to be okay, remember: one more month. Stay strong."

I closed my eyes and hugged my mom, I can't wait for a month to pass by. I can't wait to be away from the devil.

Garred was the devil.