She

  “Who wants to play hide and seek in the dark?” I asked the boys. Christopher and Michael shouted with excitement at the same time “Yeah!!”             “With flashlights” Michael said as he began to run and turn off the lights in the house.             “No flashlights” Christopher responded while he shut the blinds and curtains.             “Michael, how about when you are ‘it’ you can use a flashlight and until then you can hide with me?” I asked, “It defeats the purpose of you knowing your way around the house in the dark if you need a flashlight. Sometimes emergencies don’t give you the time to look for a flashlight.”             “That works” said Michael relived to not be in the dark alone.             Michael is 8 now and is scared of the dark. I try to be practical about it, but there isn’t much that I can do. I never grew out of my own fear of the dark.             “Alright Christopher you’re it, count to 20” I said and grabbed Michael by the hand to hide.      

She had her hands tangled in my long brown hair and shook my head hard from side to side, and back and forth; like She was shaking a little rag doll. With her hands still twisted in my hair She pulled me from my room, dragging me down the hallway, through the dining room and into the kitchen. I tripped and slipped on the hard wood floors several times and kept scrambling to stay on my feet. She never slowed her step when I fell, She would just yank me along by my hair and I could feel the hairs ripping from my scalp. She was yelling at me, but I don’t know what She was saying. My screams were as ringing as her words. One of her hands let go of my hair and fumbled with the garage door lock. The other hand still grasping my hair lifted higher until I was forced to stand on my tip toes. I squinted my eyes and kept screaming, my fingers trying to open hers and free her grasp. When the garage door would fail to unlock, She shook me by my hair, twisting her hand to get a better hold on me.