"Get out of that house! Get out now and don't come back!" P yelled.

Then the phone slammed down. I stood there bewildered for a moment until I heard a slurred male voice,

"Who's here?! Is it one of you whore girls?!" Get your fucken ass over here when I call you!" The man of the house bellowed.

I froze.  I've been down this rage road before.

My heart stutter stopped as my mind switched gears. I used quiet feet to lightly move down the hall toward the bedroom.

Inside I found a clear plastic bag in the drawer of the dresser. I quickly stuffed my small amount of clothes  as fast I could in the bag. I opened the door a crack and took a quick peak down the hall. All clear. I slipped through the door and went silently down the hall.

"Gwab ya asss!" His loud gibberish barreled down the hall toward me, his words much louder.  Speech quite slurred. 

It caused me to jump and bang up against the wall.

Once again I froze. I could hear things falling down. Him bellowing like a bull! I could hear the thump of the walls as he bounced off of them.

His voice blurbed  out another drunken bellow.

"ggurt vrac heea!! Knu ya dere!!

I bolted to the back door. Pulled open the door, took off down the stairs, out of the yard and into the street.

I didn't look back for a second. I kept going not slowing my pace. In no particular direction, I kept going. My heart was broken. So short a time for peace.

My tears mixed with the rain pounding down around me. It bounced off the pavement like tiny rubber balls. The night closed in around me as I slowed my pace to a fast walk. The night was even darker without the stars and the moon.

I stopped.

"Get a hold of yourself!" I thought angrily.

There was a large recreational park about an hours walk from where I was. Turning, I headed toward it.

The rain came down harder. I was drenched to the core and to the bottom of my feet. I tried to turn my mind on what to do next.

I was shocked, heartbroken and couldn't think. I just continued to slog my way to the park. Finally the rain tapered to sprinkles and then stopped altogether.

Entering the park I picked a lesser used trail and wandered up it. I was looking around for a dry area when I saw a flickering light.

I followed the light picking my way through the brushes. I could see through the trees what looked like two homeless people, a man and a woman, sitting around a small fire with an old grill on top.

Two cans of something cooking on it. I couldn't see it from where I was. I was about to turn and leave by the same way I came when the woman spoke up and exclaimed, "Hey, who's that?" The man turned to look.

"I'm sorry." I said. "I didn't mean to disturb you. I'll just go."

"Girl, you look like you showered in piss water and were put in swamper clothes!" The woman said.

I just looked at her with moon eyes.

"Well, come get yerself dry.  Can't turn you out lookin like that," said the man waving me in.

Carefully looking around, I walked inside the perimeter of their camp. A couple of cheap fold out chairs and a cot.  Behind that was their small tent. 

So reminiscent of my own time in the forest. I chose a fold out chair and sat stretching my hands towards the fire.

"Thank you," I said quietly.

"Figure we got nothing worth stealing. Looks like you don't have anything worth stealing either. Might as well sit round the fire and have some fellowship." The woman said.

"You and your fellowship." The man said. "I don't see a lot of fellows around here." The woman chuckled and waved him off.

I shivered and moved closer to the fire. "Have a snort of this." The man said. "It'll warm up yer gullet in a hurry." He produced a bottle that said "Brandy".

"Honey, put another can on for the girl. She looks famished." I declined the brandy but happily accepted the can of stew.

"It's all right girl, one pull of the Brandy aint gonna kill ya". Yeah, you'll just warm up that's all. You'll thank me for it." I looked at the woman.

"Don't worry, it's not that swill the others make. That comes from the liquor store uncracked before us.  It's ok." She replied. Reluctantly I took the bottle. Unsure, how much I should take, I just let it touch my lips. 

"Come on now, girl, get yourself a good mouthful and swallow it whole. Don't be shy." The man said.

So I up ended the bottle and filled my mouth and drank it down quick.

The next thing I felt was the sensation of absolute fire. From the top of my mouth all the way down to the bottom of my tummy. I was roasting! I let out a gasp to which the couple both chuckled. But he was right I was warm!

"Well if you're gonna be sipping my Brandy we'd better introduce ourselves."

The woman told me her name and passed me a can of stew and a mostly clean plastic spoon and then I told her mine. After that the man introduced himself and said "Welcome to our humble abode."  Now I was feeling very cozy, warm and I actually relaxed. I knew I shouldn't. I knew I should be vigilant but my body seemed to have a mind of its own.

Slowly, fighting it all the way, I had begun to fall asleep...I knew I was going, I just couldn't stop it. I vaguely recalled someone drape something over me...

I slowly slipped away....