“No, not again. Dad, please, STOP, please,” is all you heard behind Kayla Brighton’s closed front door. She was screaming at her father to stop beating her mother. He always came home drunk, and on something new every night. Tonight was the last night that would happen. This girl was almost 18 years old, paid bills, and had a rough life. Living with an abusive father who puts his hands on your mother is tough, especially being exposed to it at a young age. Kayla watched her mother lay on the living room floor, face swollen and bloody. There was no doubt she had broken bones. Poor Kayla didn’t know how to help her mom. Her drunk father then grabbed Kayla by her hair and dragged her next to her mother. He hit her and left a black eye.

“That’s what you get for running your mouth,” he said to her.

After the damage was done, her father stumbled into his bedroom and passed out. He wouldn’t remember what happened in the morning. Once Kayla knew he was passed out, she raided his safe. She took all the money he had in it, and a couple things to pawn. Then packed somethings in a couple of bags for her and her mother, loaded it all up in the car and started driving. They were two states away by morning. They pulled off alongside the road to take a nap for a little.

They wake up the next day, they didn’t realize how tired they were. When Kayla woke up, she went straight to the nearest hospital to get her mother bandaged up. As they pulled into the parking lot of the medical building, kayla’s mom had really bad stomach pains, he had kicked her while she was on the ground, but it didn’t hurt like this last night. Kayla parked then helped her mom into the building. As soon as a nurse saw her mom and her condition, they immediately took them in the back.

“Honey what happened,” she nurse asked.

“Nothing, can you just treat her so we can get going,” Kayla asked.

“What happened to your eye,” the nurse said pointing to her own.

“I fell, now can you please help my mom, we have to go,” she answered.

“Honey who are you running from, is it your abuser,” the nursed asked.

Kayla’s eyes turned glassy as tears fell out onto her cheeks, “Yes,” she said.

“We have counselors on call for things like this, if you or your want want it, but we can file a report. We can also give you guys the medical attention you need,” the nurse told her.

The nurse started checking her mother’s blood pressure and continued to talk to Kayla, “So who is it,” she asked sincerely.

“My father,” she said staring at the floor blankly.

“I’m sorry this happened to you guys, you deserve better than this, how long has this been going on” the nurse asked her.

“It’s been this way since I was little, I remember being, uh, maybe about six or seven years old, he used to grab me by my hair and drag me across the room. He beat the crap out of my mom, always leaving bruises all over her body. He beat me too. I have bruises all over my arms and legs. The only safe haven I had when I was younger was my childhood best friend, Justin. He moved away in eighth grade. I haven’t had any contact with him years. I used to go to his house every single day after school. I’d eat dinner with his family and even camp out in his yard. We were the best of friends. I even still wear our friendship bracelet still, to this day. When he moved, and I was home more, things got even worse. My father would come home drunk, pull me by my hair, hit me in my face and leave me with black eyes. One time he locked me in the closet for a whole day because I spilled my juice on him. I’ve been petrified of this man my whole life, and he has caused me and my mother nothing but pain. I just want out. I can’t do it anymore,” she said ugly crying.

The nurse consoled her. Then went back to checking her mother out.

“Is there any chance you could be pregnant,” the nurse asked her.

Kayla’s mom looked at her with sad eyes, then looked back to the nurse, “He used to do things to me. So I don’t know.

“Well we’ll just do a test to be sure,” the nurse told her.

After the nurse left the room to go get the stuff for a urine sample, kayla looked at her mom with sad eyes. Her mom kept apologizing to her for keeping her there with that horrible man for so many years and not doing anything about it.

“I was scared he was going to kill us if I took you and left,” she told her daughter.

“It’s okay mom, I promise. We’re safe now, He can’t hurt us here.

The nursed knocked and then walked back in, “Do you need help getting to the bathroom,” she looked at Kayla’s mom.

“No, I should be fine,” she said as she tried to get up.

“See,” she said standing there.

“I’ll be right back,” she said as she walked out.

Once she left the room, everything went quiet. Kayla stared at the floor, bouncing her foot back and forth between the tiles.

“Are you okay, sweetie,” the nurse asked.

“I’ll be fine once I’ve got a country in between me and my father,” she said staring at her worn down shoes.

“Your moms taking a good minute, I’m going to go check on her,” the nurse told her.

“Okay,” she replied.

Kayla sat alone with her thoughts, everything was so overwhelming. She didn’t know what she would do if he found them. The nurse didn’t come back for several minutes. She wondered what was taking so long, so she went to the bathroom her mom was supposed to me at. As she was approaching the corner, she heard a voice. A familiar voice.

“Please just come home, I’m so sorry, it won’t happen again,” her father said to her mother.

“Baby please, I’m lost without you,” he just kept rambling on.

“Mom, don’t do it. I’m not going with you. Please do not go back home with him. It’s not safe. It’s never been safe,” she cried to her mother.

Her mother wiped her tears, gave her daughter a hug, apologized and told her, “You don’t have to come with me. You’re an adult. You make your own decisions. I’ll always love you. You will always have a place in my heart.”

“Mom please, don’t go. I need you,” was all she managed to get out in between her heavy breaths.

“Honey, I’m pregnant. I need your father’s support.”

Kayla fell to her knees, “This man will murder that baby.”

“I have to go home baby, I love you.”

Kayla’s father grabbed her mother by her arm and lead her out to the car and drove off. Kayla’s head hung low, tears dripping down her face onto the floor.

A few months went by and Kayla never heard anything from her mother or her father. She tried calling, but the phone was disconnected. She would always wonder, and she always thought that something bad happened, but she could never bring herself to go back.