She sits on the floor

Staring at the ticking clock.

As its hands hit four her heart completely stops.

He’ll be home any minute and she’s completely alone,

And she can’t seem to get her mom to answer the phone.

She knows he’ll be drunk,

It seems to never fail.

Maybe if she’s lucky,

He will only yell.

She waited nervously in the house,

For what seemed like hours.

When she saw his lights beam through the window,

She began to cower.

He stumbled in the door

And she tried to run and hide.

Her heart thrummed in her chest,

As she knew what was behind.

He raised his hand high

And with one forceful swing,

He slapped her face hard

Leaving behind the sting.

Her mother comes in the door,

Demanding to know why

She was sobbing on the floor.

“I’m sorry!” she yells,

Seeing her mother trying to deny,

But she knows the real reason

Her child lay there and cry.

Her mother helped her up and sent her to bed,

As she lay there motionless

Wishing she were dead.

All she can see

Inside of her head,

Is how his twisted smile grew and

How his eyes gleamed with hatred.

He goes into her mother’s room

And they lay side by side,

She turns over towards her window staring outside.

Wanting and wishing to be anywhere but here,

Her body still overwhelmed with the sense of intense fear.

She tries to go to sleep with tears running down her face,

She thinks of how happy she would be

If she could just leave this place.

Then she thinks of her mother and she feels so bad,

If only she could really see the other side of her step-dad.

Her mother loved him, and he was her world

But what he was really doing

Was beating her little girl.