Lucmely flinched against her uncle's voice, not even listening to his words. She lingered at the doorway, her bike discarded on the driveway.

She wanted to get back onto it and leave. To go back to Aunt Yama and stay there for the night. But she knew her parents would be mad if she did. They'd yell and complain about how she was running away again and causing such "undue stress."

But if they wanted her to stay, why didn't they kick him out? Why'd they let that man stay here and abuse her still?

Slowly, Lucmely shut the door, wincing as it made a small sound. She paused, making sure there was no pause in her uncle's shouts as he yelled at the TV. When he didn't seem to have noticed, she sighed in relief and stepped further into the house.

She stepped lightly, not wanting to draw any attention to herself. She eyed the door across the living room that led to her room. She just had to pass behind the couch. She just had to make sure she didn't draw too much attention to herself.

Then she'd be fine.

With a deep breath, she crept into the living room and stepped behind the couch. Her uncle was sitting there, like usual- screaming at his sports while throwing his arms up. She held her breath, inching slowly behind the couch. Her eyes were glued to the floor, focused on just getting through.

Crunch

The room went silent for a second, only the TV still blaring. Lucmely looked down at the broken glass on the floor. Something for her to clean later. With a grunt, her uncle shifted up.

"Girl." It was more of a statement of realization, not a greeting or even a question.

"Grab me another can. They're on the counter."

Lucmely hesitated.

"Don't make me wait. You know I don't like that." He barked, shifting to turn around and look at her. Before he could, she ran to the kitchen and grabbed a soda from the pack left half-empty on the counter.

Ever since her father had gotten onto him about how much money he was spending on his beer, he'd been sticking to Lucmely's sodas. She didn't like that, since they'd be gone much sooner, but she didn't protest.

She went back to the living room and handed it to him. He didn't say thank you. Slowly, she stepped for the door.

"You're really fucking useless, y'know? Don't even open it for me." Her uncle scoffed slightly, opening the can and taking a sip. "Do you even do anything? Help in any way?"

Rich coming from him, the unemployed forty-something-year-old that didn't help around the house in the slightest. Lucmely was sixteen, just trying to finish school and get away as soon as possible.

"Go clean that glass, girl." He gestured to the glass shards on the floor.