The hallway was dark. Enola could only just make out the dark grey lockers that decorated the walls all the way down the unending hall. The only sound in the building was her panting and his heavy footsteps that slowly came closer and closer. He was walking towards her tauntingly slow, and even though she was running as fast as she possibly could, he was still gaining on her. She could hear his rough voice calling out her name and she recognized the drunkenness and the anger underlying in his tone. Sweat trickled down her forehead as she tried to run faster in an attempt to put more distance between herself and her clearly angry father, but she was unsuccessful. His voice was coming closer still and she could smell the alcohol in the air, almost as if the smell of his breath was engulfing all the air around her. Her entire body was in pain, as if she was feeling all the bruises he had ever caused all at once. Just as his hands were about to grab a fistful of her hair the scene was disrupted by the clear sound of an alarm and Enola woke with a start.
She was drenched in sweat, she could feel the tears streaming down her face and her heart was beating a mile a minute as if she had truly been running at full speed. She looked around the room that had belonged to her for almost a week, from the fairy lights to the dresser in the corner. As she took in her surroundings hear heart rate slowly started to calm down as her mind and body recognized the safety. Directing her gaze to the digital clock that was on the dresser she saw that it was 7 o'clock, and that it was Wednesday - which meant she was starting school today. Just last night Enola had actually been looking forward to starting school to regain some form of normality, and to have something meaningful to fill out her days with, but on top of her nightmare all she could think about was her dad finding out about her location, and suddenly starting school seemed like a terrible idea.
She could feel herself slowly begin to retreat into some of the darker corners of her mind, as a bit of fear lingered in the pit of her stomach, but she was luckily brought out of it by a knock on the door, she called out a little "yes" to confirm that the door could be opened. Sue opened the door carefully, but she wasn't expecting what met her on the other side. She had simply wanted to check that Enola had gotten up on time, but when she took in the state of the girl - hair sticking to her neck from the sweat, swollen red eyes and tear stained cheeks, she couldn't help but feel sad, in the short while Enola had stayed with them she had come to care deeply for the girl, who despite having had a rough life was so kind. Sue had often thought about what Enola had lived through, but as she looked at the girl who looked so broken, she realized that she would probably never know the extent of her struggles back in Chicago.
Sue honestly didn't know what to say, she didn't know how to comfort Enola even though she so desperately wanted to, "Are you okay?" she settled for asking, while she hoped that Enola would trust her enough to try to let her help, "I'm fine," Enola smiled at her, though sadness lingered in her eyes "it was just a nightmare" she told, trying to convince herself that it was true - it had just been a nightmare.
