As I was trying to find the last piece to finish off the red car of my puzzle, I looked up at the window and saw constellations of raindrops. The room shook, and I felt a weird feeling in my gut. I looked down and saw a large shadow. He was behind me. I shut my eyes, imagining him leaving forever. Opening my eyes and coming back to reality, I hoped today was one of his good days. He walked over to my twin sisters, and they started playing with him.

“How are my princesses today?” he said with a big smile on his face.

They didn’t know the real him like I did because they were too young to realize these things. Watching him lie and being completely different made me cringe. It made me wish my dad would come back and save us. I looked over to my mom and saw her smile. I saw this smile every day and I was so tired of seeing it. It was the he’s-going-to-change smile. The everything-will-be-okay smile. She needed to open her eyes and recognize he was never going to change.

He stopped playing with my sisters and stared at my mom. There was that familiar look in his eyes. I held my breath, praying he wouldn’t walk towards my mom. He did. I knew this day would come and I was ready. I took my sisters upstairs while he and my mom were in the kitchen. All of a sudden we jumped at the sound of glass shattering. I had to be strong for my sisters, but tears were going down their faces.

  I ran downstairs and saw my fishbowl in pieces on the kitchen floor. It looked like my mom threw it at him to protected herself. That idea backfired, causing him to jaunt towards my mom with anger. My mom screamed; I had never heard this scream before. It was the sound of a person whose life was in jeopardy. So many things were going through my head. I ran to the phone to call 911 before he could take my mom from me.

“Please come help! He’s hurting my mommy,” I said, with tears coming down my face.

“Everything is going to be okay. Give us five minutes,” the lady said.

Waiting for five minutes felt like an eternity. With each minute, I was closer to losing my mom forever. The police arrived, and I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. As I was picking up my fishs, I looked out the window. The storm was over, but it was still raining and I saw flashing red and blue raindrops.