Salvation

"Please, let me leave here tonight."

In the aftermath of the strewn furniture,

Amongst the broken bottles and anger,

Kassidy Lewis lay in fetal position, crying.

Her neck throbbed from her mother's hands.

Her legs felt like they'd been torn off.

Her torso was covered in footprints.

Her face still carried the handprint,

Reminding her again that her mother

Always prefers the company of men over her.

No matter what they did to Kassidy,

The men always won. She'd stopped trying.

"Are you okay?"

Kassidy peered up to see her younger brother,

Standing in his diaper holding his teddy bear.

The people had come for him last year and left her,

But he always visited when life got too rough.

She mouthed his name and he smiled.

Offering his free hand, he asked her,

"Are you ready to come with me now?"

Kassidy looked teary-eyed at him.

"I can't leave Mommy with him or he'll hurt her."

"Do still you hate Mommy, Kassy?"

Kassidy lie still, thinking back to the last time.

She'd regretted hating her mother since then.

"No. I could never hate her."

Her brother smiled and pulled Kassidy to her feet.

Her legs no longer hurt, her face wasn't hot anymore,

Her mouth smiled with ease andher belly no longer rumbled.

Gripping her brother's hand tightly, she followed

Through the chaos of the room, past her drunk mother,

Over her abusive stepfather through the back door.

Running now, the two kids ran towards the fence,

With her brother going first, Kassidy confidently hopped over

Into the warmth of the sunlight and ran into the clouds.