Chapter 1

Chairs crashing, bottles breaking and his mom yelling in the other room. He knew what that meant. Heart pounding so loud and fast that it felt like it was going to pop out of his chest at any moment the little boy jumped out of bed and ran to his closet. Once inside he closed the door and went over to the corner of the small closet where there was a secret crawlway. He yanks open the door and crawls inside. Once inside he closes the door and huddles as small as he can get. Heart pounding he listens to see if his mom is in his room yet. He knows his mom doesn't know about the crawlway but he is still worried. He is only six years old and a small six year old at that. At 3 and a half feet tall and 50 lbs pounds with sandy blonde hair and ocean blue eyes he was an adorable child but small. He knows he can't fight his mom if she finds him. The last time he had tried fighting back against his mom he had ended up in the hospital for 3 days. His mom wasn't that big, she was 5' 5 and weighed 120 pounds with sandy blonde hair like him and hazel eyes.

All of a sudden he hears a loud crash as his door bangs against the wall. His heart starts beating even faster, roaring in the tiny crawlspace. He starts to shake; sure his mom can hear his heartbeat and will find him. Then he hears his mom call out, "Where are you? You little brat??" "I know you're in here somewhere."

He hears his mom tearing through his room as he sits in the crawlway with tears running down his face as he put his knees onto his chest and hugged himself real tight praying that his mom doesn't find him. He wants to cry but knows he can't. If he does he knows he will be discovered. That was the last thing he wanted. As he tries his best not to cry he can hear his mom still tearing through his room. Then he hears her turn the knob on the closet door. He bites his lip hard choking back tears his heart racing and his little body shaking. He hears the door being yanked open and he strains to hear any noise to tell whether she notices the secret crawlway or not, his heart thundering in his ears like a jackhammer and he is positive his mom hears it. How can she not it's so loud? After a few moments that feel like a lifetime to the little boy he hears the door slam shut again and he lets out a small sigh of relief amazed that she didn't find him.

A second later he hears his bedroom door open and close and thinks that maybe just maybe his mom has left the room. Not totally sure he waits a few minutes and listens. All he hears is his own heart beating and so he is sure his mom has left the room. He crawls out of the crawlspace and goes to the closet door. He puts his ear up to the door and listens again. Still not hearing anything he slowly reaches up and takes a hold of the doorknob. He slowly pushes the door open a little ways and peeks into his room. Not seeing anything he steps out of the closet and looks over to his bed and then freezes. Sitting on the corner of his bed where he couldn't see when he peeked was his mom. Hair tousled and clothes dirty and wrinkled. He knows he's in for it now and that he has nowhere to run. If he tries to go back to his crawlspace she will find out about it and he won't be able to use it anymore.

She looks over at him and grins. "So there you are Jason, you thought I was gone didn't you?" He says nothing just stands there too scared to move. She gets up and grabs him by the arm. "I was looking for you you little brat." "Why were you hiding from me huh?" She shakes him as she yells in his face. As he stands there too scared to answer she starts getting even madder. "Answer me you little brat." She yells as she slaps him across the face. The force of the blow knocking him back as his cheek feels as if it was set afire. He stands there holding his cheek crying as she comes towards him. He flinches away as she raises her hand again and pushes him backwards hard enough to send him flying into the wall. He sees black and then nothing as he goes out.