The Ashes of Marriage

Chapter 1

One. Two.

I whisper the count. The banging in the next room is getting louder. I hear the room door open, and the voices of Mama and Daddy become thundering. I hear them banging against the walls of the hallway as the fighting continues past my bedroom door toward the kitchen. My younger sister sleeps next to me on the bottom bunk of our shared twin bunk bed. My older sister lies still on the top bunk, but I hear her breath catch and know she's awake. I peek over the edge of the bed and my older sister, and I lock eyes.

"Candy..." I whisper. I can see her silhouette in the dark. She nods her head. We slip out of our beds and jerk on our tennis shoes. Candy opens the window as I hoist two backpacks on the ledge, and she pushes them through the open window. As they hit the ground, I hear a soft thud. I teeter on the windowsill before jumping and landing on top of the backpacks, and I hurry to move out of the way as Candy follows behind me less than a second later.

Three!

We yank up our backpacks and run towards the cornfield. It's the beginning of May and the Georgia humidity is thick. The air is wet, hot, and suffocating. My lungs burn, but I know better than to stop. My sister is faster than me, probably because of her being five years older, but I'm not far behind, making up the distance with each stride.

"Stay with me, Ali!" she yells back to me. As she disappears into the cornfield, I stay close. We have done this midnight dash so many times, I know the route through the small cornfield by heart. We have two acres of corn to plow through until we get to Auntie's house. Auntie's house means safety.

Pitch blackness surrounds us as the corn stalks whip us in the face. I see a porch light; Auntie always leaves on the porch light. A beacon of security. Candy bursts from the corn field first into Auntie's yard, and a few seconds later, I follow her. We turn to each other and brush off the strings and ants from the cornstalks that cling to our clothes. Auntie is standing on the porch in her nightgown and arms outstretched, beckoning us inside.

"I could hear them at it from all tha' way over hea. Sounds like it wasa 'bout to get bad." Auntie said in her sweet southern drawl. We run to the porch and hug Auntie.

"I heard 'em start 'bout an hour ago Auntie and it was bad, real bad!" I blab. "It sounded like Daddy was punching Mama and she was gittin some licks in too. Kora didn't even wake up, but me and Candy knew it was time and.."

"GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE BITCH!"

Oh, no. Daddy. His voice was clear, and I knew he was on the other side.

"Let's go inside," Auntie says quickly. Before we can turn around, someone pops out of the corn.

Mama. Her eyes are wide. She looks afraid, more afraid than I have ever seen her. She has on a white shirt. On the sleeve is a growing patch of red. I rush to her after she stumbles toward the porch. She pushes me away.

"Ali... Run!" Mama said. I react too slowly. In a split second, I see the silver blade glistening in the night sky as it heads down towards me. It's all happening so fast. I don't even scream. The blade slices through my nightgown, across my fingers and palm of my left hand, and cuts my right thigh. I jump back on my left leg. My mouth is in the shape of a perpetual scream without sound and nearby an animal screeches. No wait, that's Candy screaming. She and Auntie grab me and pull me onto the porch and into the house. Through the front window, I can see Mama and Daddy on the lawn wrestling and notice the blade of the knife isn't gleaming anymore. Daddy acts as if possessed and with each plunge of the knife he yells out in anguishing frustration. I turn away. Everything is happening so fast. Auntie is wrapping my wounds in towels. Candy is on the phone screaming at the 911 dispatcher. The room is tilting from side to side, and I feel my body weaken.

"ALI!" Candy screams.