Chapter Four

The sounds of childlike laughter caught her attention as she strolled the front yard, not wanting to return to the confines of her prison yet. She watched the children run free and wished she could do the same. She wished that her life was less complicated and more carefree as theirs were. But instead, she was riddled with illusive nightmares and vivid flashbacks of happier times.

"Could my life get worse?" she asked herself. She took a seat on a swing nearby the greenery. She tightened her grip on the ropes as she swung back and forth, remembering the last fight. She was eleven when it happened. Her mother and father were arguing for the fifth time that day. The colorful words of her parents invaded her ears once again as she peeped outside her bedroom door. She scurried downstairs immediately after the loudest scream she'd ever heard erupted throughout the entire house.