• Rika was doubled over on her floor, blood dripped from her arm and tears flowed from her eyes and stained the beige carpet. She sat there for a long time, not knowing what to do. She thought hard and long but was interrupted by her older brother knocking on the door. “Rika, are you in there? Are you okay?” He asked, he sounded worried.
    “I’m in here,” she said, she didn’t want to tell him that she thought she was going to die from the pain.
    “Kay then, I’m coming in,” he pushed open the door and sat down next to Rika. “Rika, I know what happened, I was outside and I heard you screaming and I heard him.”
    Rika fell into his arms and sobbed harder. “Raiden, he beat me, he even threatened me with a knife!”
    “It’s okay,” he tried to comfort her. “Don’t worry, Mom will be home in a few days and then he’ll stop hurting us, okay?”
    “No Raiden, it’s not okay, ‘cause the next time she leaves he’ll hurt us more!”
    “Okay, okay, just try to get through these next few days and when Mom gets home we’ll tell her what he does to us.”
    “Okay,” she whispered to him.
    The next morning Rika spent the whole day in her room, afraid of being beaten again. She lived in fear of her father, and so did her brother. She drew pictures and wrote stories to get her mind off her dad, but all of them were about her. In the drawings she was dripping with blood and the stories had her being beaten and abused.
    While Rika was sleeping one night she was woken up by the sound of a closing door, her mom was home! She jumped out of bed and ran to the door, but her brother grabbed her arm and told her to get back in bed. “But why? I want to see Mom and tell her, tell her about everything.”
    “No,” Raiden stated firmly. “Dad is going to-” He was cut off by the sound of screams. Raiden ran down the stairs and pushed Rika back into her room. There was shouting, mostly Raiden and their father.
    “RAIDEN!!! GET OUT OF HERE!!!”
    “NO, I’M GONNA STAY HERE AS LONG AS I WANT TO!”
    The screaming stopped but Rika could tell that her dad and brother were fighting, but, why wasn’t her mom saying anything? Rika walked downstairs and fainted. She had seen something a child never wants to see: Their mother lying on the floor in a puddle of blood, arms severed from her body lying next to her and eyes glazed over.
    Raiden shook her awake. She seemed startled and saw her mom’s body again, but she didn’t faint, she screamed. Her voice echoed through the house.
    “Well, well, now that you have seen this, you have to die, or I’ll get executed for murder. Now, who first?”
    “NEVER, YOU B*****D!!! FIRST, YOU KILL YOUR OWN WIFE?! NOW YOU PLAN ON KILLING YOUR CHILREN?! YOUR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD?!” Raiden screamed at him.
    “Fine, then since you’re the most troublesome, I guess you get to go first,” he snickered.
    “DON’T TALK LIKE YOU’RE DOIN’ ME A FAVOR!” Raiden snapped at him. Their dad grabbed Raiden around the neck and threw him to the ground. His head hit the floor with a loud thud and blood streamed from it. “Rika! Run!”
    For a second all Rika could do was stand there and watch her brother being beaten. But reality hit her and she ran as fast as she could, but her father grabbed her ankle and she fell to the ground. “If I let you go you’re gonna report me to the officials. I can’t let that happen.” His voice was cold, he cared for no one except himself.
    “You only care for yourself, you selfish monster!” Rika hollered
    “I care for other people, just not as much as myself,” he said, a large grin spreading across his face.
    “MONSTER, YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A MONSTER!!! I HATE YOU!!!” Rika cried out. Her father just continued to beat Raiden but he was holding onto Rika too now. This made it harder, but he still left marks and bruises. Raiden looked at Rika and smiled.
    “Rika, don’t let him get away with this.” He told her, his voice was gentle, but it was a command. Raiden slapped their father across the face. “Run!”
    Rika stood up and bolted towards the door. She turned only for a second to see her brother’s last smile. Then, he was dead. Rika ran and cried, tears spilling from her eyes. She ran until she was out of breath, she stopped and looked behind her, but no one was there. She continued on, walking this time. Rika remembered that she still had to do something.
    She went to a pay phone and realized she didn’t have money, so instead she walked to her closest friend’s house. She knocked on the door and waited for them to answer it. She didn’t expect it though, it was only about 4:30 in the morning, but her friend Ai stuck her head out the window and waved, calling “I’ll be down in a sec!”
    Rika waited and Ai opened the door and freaked out. “Rika! What happened to you?!” Rika had forgotten about the blood and cuts.
    “Oh, that’s why I came I need to use your phone.”
    “Okay, sure.” Ai led Rika to the phone and Rika picked it up and dialed 911.
    “Hello?” said the operator.
    “My father, he beat my mom and brother to death and he beat me too, but not as badly.” He voice was shaky and she was talking faster than usual.
    “Okay, what is the address he is located at?”
    “…438 Kaze.”
    “And what is his name?”
    “Itami Koumuru.”
    “Okay, thank you.” The phone clicked as Rika put it down.
    “Thank you, Ai.”
    “You’re welcome, now, what happened between you and your father?”
    Rika told her everything. From the beginning starting with when her mother left. She cried through the whole story, she didn’t want to re-live any of it. Ai hugged her and said “I’m so sorry, Rika. I should have been there for you.”
    “No, Ai, it wasn’t your fault, don’t think that, you had nothing to do with it.”
    “Oh, Rika, I’m just so sorry for you… I’ll be right back, just a second, kay?”
    “Okay.”
    Ai came back a few minutes later with her parents. They offered to let Rika stay with them. “Oh, no I couldn’t, I don’t want to trouble you.”
    “Don’t worry about that” they argued.
    “I’ll stay for a bit then, but only a month at the most, then I will have to leave.” Rika stated firmly.
    “Okay, you can even stay longer if you need,” Ai’s parents offered.
    “Thank you.”
    “Oh, Rika do you think they got your dad yet?” Ai asked.
    “I-I’m not sure, I hope so.”
    The next morning when they all looked at the newspaper the front page headline read “Murder”. Under that there was a picture of Rika’s father. The caption said he was most likely roaming the streets, hiding from the cops.
    So, they haven’t found him. That scares me, he’s probably going to try to kill me too. Rika slipped away from everyone and sat down on the couch. She heaved a deep sigh and wondered if she would ever be safe.