One more night. You had promised yourself one more night of this mess and then you’d leave. Sure, it was wrong, you were about to abandon your siblings in a house of hell, but you were gonna save yourself.

The plan was simple. Grab your bags, rush out the door and run like a bat out of hell towards the closest train station and just go wherever it took you.. but as you sat against your bedroom door, knees up to your chest, listening to your deadbeat, shit excuse of a father, hurt your mother, you couldn’t move.

You were already sporting a bloody nose, a busted lip, a bald spot you tried to cover with some strange hairstyle and a few bruises from trying to protect your mother. You wanted to leave. You wanted to be selfish, for once. You’re 18, for fuck sake. But you know that if you don’t stay, your little siblings, Shannon, Tadgh, Ollie and Sean will be in hell… your mother will be in more hell.

You couldn’t stand hearing her cries anymore, hearing her begging him to stop. Plus, the sight of the blood dripping from your nose made you want to scream.

You couldn’t do it anymore. You sprung up from your feet so fast your vision blurred for a second. If you die tonight at the hands of your father, at least you’ll die trying to save your mother. That was enough for you.