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to Danny’s door close and wait for him to pound on my door like he always does.
    But this time he doesn’t. His footsteps stop outside my door, and I know he’s standing there. I imagine I hear him breathing. I picture his face with that worried look he gets. Then he’s gone.
    Without any warning, tears spurt out of my eyes. I flip onto my stomach and cry into my pillow. After a while I stop crying and just lie there, hating the feeling of the soggy pillowcase on my cheek but too tired to move. I must have drifted off to sleep, because when I look at my clock again, it’s nine thirty.
    Sun is shining through the slats on my blinds, making patterns on the wall. The house is quiet. Maybe Dad has gone out somewhere and I’m alone. I don’t even know if the front door is locked. My heart starts pounding again, and I can’t move.
    I take some big breaths. I force myself out of bed and go out into the hallway. Dad’s bedroom door is shut, and I can hear snoring. Next, I check the front door. Danny has left it locked.
    Suddenly I’m starving.
    The kitchen sink is crammed with dishes, and there’s a plate of half-eaten toast on the counter. I get out a bowl and a spoon and the box of cornflakes, and I fill the bowl with cereal and then pour on some milk. I stand beside the kitchen sink, shoveling cornflakes into my mouth. Milk dribbles from the spoon and onto my chin. When I’m finished, I add my bowl to the pile of dirty dishes.
    That’s when I see it, on the inside of my arm between my shoulder and my elbow—a long purple bruise.
    I feel like someone has kicked me hard in the stomach. I’m staring at a stranger’s arm, not my own. Everything floods back. The man’s fingers digging into my skin. My blouse ripping. The knife flashing and all the time a voice in my head screaming, Danny! Where’s Danny?
    Cold sweat breaks out on my back. This whole thing was my fault. My fault. I run to the bathroom and make it just in time. I throw up the cornflakes and then rest my head on the side of the toilet bowl.
    I go back to my bedroom and lie on my bed and wrap myself tightly in my quilt.
    There’s no way I can leave this house.

Danny
    He should’ve saved Pam.
    What kind of brother hugs a tree while some creep is attacking his sister? A coward, that’s what kind. Danny saw the look in that cop’s eyes. He saw it in Dad’s eyes too.
    More than anything, Danny wants to tell Pam he’s sorry. He stood outside her bedroom door this morning, but he didn’t have the guts to face her. Not that she would have wanted to see him.
    Instead of taking the railroad trail, hewalks to school the long way, along the road. He left the house early because he wanted to get out of there before Dad got up. He grabbed a piece of toast, but he only ate a few bites. And he didn’t bother to make himself a lunch. Even though he missed supper, he just isn’t hungry.
    Danny passes the house where Carol and Prince live. Her car isn’t there, and the curtains on both sides of the duplex are closed. Four more blocks, and he hears running footsteps behind him. His stomach jumps and then Hugh’s voice calls, “Wait up!”
    Hugh and Danny have been friends since last November. Danny noticed him in the school hallways before that, but they never talked. Hugh is hard to miss. He’s the shortest boy in grade ten by far, and he looks like he belongs in an elementary school.
    One day Danny was walking down the hall behind Hugh and this hulking kid in grade twelve stuck out his leg. Wham ! Hugh hit the floor with a thud. His binder flew out of his hands and sprang open, spewing papers everywhere. His glasses slid off his face and clattered to the other side of the hall.
    A bunch of kids laughed. Danny was going to mind his own business and keep walking. But for some reason he stopped and picked up the glasses before someone stepped on them. He handed them