Stepping lightly inside the apartment, Anna eased the door shut. She found Chrissy and Sophie in Chrissy’s room. Mama was nowhere to be found. Anna understood these disappearances…she knew that when Mama was that drunk, she’d go to some cheap motel, do some cheap stuff with some guy who could put some cheap whiskey in her mouth, together with something else. Disgusted, Anna swept the thought away and took out the cupcakes she bought.
For those three, they were living in a world where words just weren’t needed. Everything that happened needed no explanation; they simply…knew. Every time they had to use words, it was for the unpleasant purpose of arguing with Mama. So they just stopped saying anything anymore. Chrissy distanced himself emotionally, becoming aloof and cold in all things regarding Mama. He didn’t react to anything; outwardly, he wore the same expression almost all the time. Sophie couldn’t go to school yet; Anna was going to try and make enough money to send her to grade school. Sophie didn’t really get a chance to get away from the apartment. She was a prisoner in her own way. And Anna? Well, Anna just put up with it.
Till one day when she was in her eighteenth year, she couldn’t stand it anymore. Mama picked up a steady from somewhere, and he had been coming up to their apartment too often. Anna knew from the first look that this guy was up to no good; then again, Mama’s choice in men had always been disastrous.
She had come back from work late at night, and then she saw blood on the floor. The first thing she did was bolt into Mama’s room. No one. Then she looked into Sophie’s room. It was empty as well. Then she heard Sophie’s soft crying from Chrissy’s room. When she opened that door, Anna had to hold back a cry.
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