“See you tomorrow.” Nathaniel called as he got up. I watched him walk off the bus and up to his house. I sat there, staring out the window after him long after he was out of sight.

My stop was next. It was slightly comforting knowing that I didn’t live very far away from Nathaniel. I got off the bus slowly and shuffled my feet, dreading opening the door to my house.

When I finally managed to get myself to open the door, everything was silent. But the silence just made the knots in my stomach clench tighter. The silence scared me now. I used to relish it, thankful my parents weren’t homee… But now it ment that she was in a bad mood. Whenever her mood was black, she stalked around the house in utter silence. It scared me to death because I could never hear her coming. She was just all of a sudden there next to me, behind me, in front of me. It didn’t matter where to her.

I set my backpack and purse on the kitchen table, and there she was with that look of hunger in her eyes.