It was after a long day at school that things finally reached their breaking point. Anna had been walking home, her mind preoccupied with the usual sense of dread that clung to her like a second skin. When she opened the door, the familiar smell of stale air hit her, and there, in the hallway, she found Noah standing in front of their father.
"You promised," Noah said, his voice low but shaking with frustration. "You promised you'd come to my game. You promised you'd be there."
Harold stood with his arms crossed, his expression unreadable. "I'm busy, Noah. I told you. Work comes first."
"No, Dad!" Noah shouted, his anger exploding in a burst of energy. "You promised! You always promise and then you never show up! You don't care about me. You don't care about anything but yourself!"
For a moment, Harold seemed to falter, his face contorting as though something inside him snapped. But before Noah could say another word, Harold's hand shot out, striking him across the face with a force that sent Noah sprawling onto the floor.
Anna's heart raced. The room felt like it was collapsing around her, and she could barely breathe. She wanted to scream, to say something, but her voice wouldn't come. All she could do was watch as Noah lay there, tears streaming down his face, his body trembling.
"You'll learn some respect," Harold growled, his voice cold and cruel.
Anna had seen enough. She had witnessed the slow erosion of their family for years, but this was different. This was the moment where the cracks in their lives became chasms, and there was no going back.
She grabbed her jacket and headed for the door, her mind made up. She wasn't going to let this house swallow her whole like it had done to her parents.
As the door closed behind her, the house fell silent once again. The same silence that had hung over them for years, eating them alive, piece by piece.
But Anna was no longer afraid. She was done.
The garden outside, once full of life, was now overgrown, the weeds creeping up through the cracked stones. It seemed like a fitting metaphor for the McAllister family—a place that had once been bright and full of hope, but now lost in the shadows.
And as Anna stepped away from the house, she knew it wasn't just the garden that needed to be cleared. It was everything