After Midnight

Part 1: The (brief) Escape

It's midnight, and she knows what will happen if she leaves her room. She knows because it's the rule. Never leave your room past 8 o' clock. Rules are not to be broken in this house. But she does it anyways, because her mind wont stop running, and she feels like a hamster on a wheel over a bottomless pit, and if she stays spinning on that damn wheel, she might very well just jump into its ever-so-tempting depths. So she leaves her room. She dances across the hard, aged wood, her toes gliding to the sweetest tune of Wee Willy Winky that her mother sang to her as a child. Wee Willy Winky runs through the town, up stairs, down stairs, in his night gown. She hums softly to herself as she tip toes across the creaky old boards, sliding her fingers along the yellow-green walls on either side of her. The back stairwell groans in protest as she makes her way to the door, her feet clad only in padded callouses and fearful hesitation. She knows what will happen if she's caught. Her nightgown flutters around her as she swings the door wide. The sky is lighted with smog and grey clouds, running in lavender and mauve and navy like God had landed a bruise to earth's atmosphere.

"You know if he catches you you're good as dead." Eva knew that. Maria knew that. 

"How many times do I have to watch you pay for being a dumbass." Eva remained silent.

"I'm not talking to a wall here, Eva. Fucking answer me."

"I can't stay here tonight. He's in my head. They're all in my head. If I stay here, I might as well be dead, because I'll be mad if I stay here." Maria's withering scold loomed in Eva's vision even as she slipped back inside. Eva knew she understood, because who else would besides the one person who lived her life. No one else knew, because this was a secret, an unspoken thing between the sisters and their parents. It wasn't a rule, it just was. But even still, Maria had learned to cope. She saw a therapist once a week with the money she saved from working the register at Pet Supplies Plus. Eva couldn't cope. Each punishment was unique to the sister, and Eva couldn't cope. She couldn't see a therapist, because she couldn't admit her reality. So instead, she broke the rule. The one rule that could never, ever be broken. But she was cracking inside, and she didn't know how to cope and she felt mad with it all, mad with all the chaos and fear, and her wrists itched and her head burned. 

The air that washed over her tickled her kneecaps beneath her nightgown. 

AN: I'm going to bed. To Be Continued... :)