He was back, and no matter what her parents said, Emma knew her brother had no intention of moving out again. She heard the door to his room open, and rushed to her own. She barely made it before he tried to turn the knob.
Bruce said he’d come and install a knob that she could lock from the inside, but so far he hadn’t shown up even once. It was like he was afraid to meet her parents, which didn’t make any sense at all.
“Emmy. Whatcha doing? Come on, Emmy. Let me in.” The door bucked under her shoulder.
She had to get out of here and fast. He’d already destroyed most of the things she cared about. Every one of her masks was messed up in some way. The one he’d poked full of cigarette burns – the pink one she’d worn in a bar – lay on her desk right now. All she really needed was to grab her backpack and crawl out the window. But could she do it faster than he could get in?
“Come on, Emmy. You’ll only make it worse for yourself if you don’t let me in. Oh, Mom. No, I’m just kidding.”
Yeah. Kidding. And Mom would believe it, too.
Emma grabbed the chair at her desk and shoved it under her door knob. The knob was already loose and a little bent from all the times she’d done this. She grabbed her pack and crawled out the window even before he turned the knob.
When he saw the room empty, he’d go on a rampaged, but she’d worry about that later. Right now she had to get to her safe haven. The urge to scream out her frustration became so intense she practically ran through the neighbor’s back yards to the street.
It was all so unfair. She’d counted the days until he moved out with such anticipation. She’d planned on really making something of herself. Especially after she joined the band. Even if she had to wear a mask to sing, she was doing it. She was right up there on stage with everyone else. Better yet, she had power over an audience. When she sang with the band people didn’t pound on the door and demand she shut up. They begged for more.
But she didn’t have to have an audience. Maybe singing in a vacant house was starting to feel kind of barren, but it was still her best place to be. She just had to get there without her brother finding out.
There it was! She could see it from the end of the block. Almost there. Almost…
Someone flung the front door open. I was a man with graying hair and the start of wrinkles. Not really old, old, but not young either. He shouted something at a woman standing next to a moving truck, then ducked back inside.
Emma didn’t even realize she’d stopped moving until a gnat tried to fly into her open mouth. Gone. Gone. The one place in the world where she could always go and do whatever she wanted. Her safe haven. Her true home. It had been sold out from under her.
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