It was a hot, sunny day. The sky held no visible clouds. A slight breeze blew through the tall, lush green trees. Each grain of sand burned mildly as it squished between Alice’s toes, but she hardly noticed.
Though there was no actual escape from the sunshine, Alice thought it was dark. Cold and dark. The entire world seemed to have rain clouds covering it. The only sound was the waves crashing, so loudly that she couldn’t hear anything else, even if she wanted to.
Her phone buzzed in her hand. She felt and acknowledged it, even though she didn’t want to. Still, she looked down at the caller I.D. It was her father, calling for a reason unknown to everyone except himself.
She ignored the call. The sudden urge to just throw her phone into the ocean was overwhelming, but she fought hard against it. She clutched the rectangular device  so tightly that her knuckles were white. All she wanted to do was disappear.
Maybe if she did throw it, she could run away. No one would be able to find her then. All she had to do was throw it and never stop to look back. She had it all planned out.
She’d just throw the stupid phone as far as she could, then wait there the rest of the day. It wouldn’t be too  hard to sneak into the house at night, grab a bag of clothes, and leave again. Once she left, she’s just keep on going until she felt content. Shoe could easily get a job as a waitress somewhere and live the rest of her life happily.
Of course, Alice would have followed through with it. She would have. If only she had the courage to take the risks. if only she could forget the what if’s. But she simply couldn’t.
What if she couldn’t get away? What if they found her anyways? What if something happened and she had no one to go to? What if her father knew she was thinking about all of this?
It was impossible to look past that. Impossible to not be afraid of what may come. But still very possible to just throw that phone.Yet, she didn’t throw it. That’s where it all starts. If she threw the phone, she knew what would come next, but she had no idea what would come after that. And she simply couldn’t risk it.
So, the phone would stay with her. She would stay at the beach a while longer, then go home and clean any mess, take care of her father, cook dinner. She would make her thoughts unknown to anyone else. But the other side of what if’s remained. What if she did get away with it? What if she just disappeared, like her mom? What if she didn’t have to be hurt again?

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From the outside, it was a nice house. Since it was almost summer, the grass in the yard was green and trimmed. Bright flowers of various colors bloomed, giving the air a sweet smell. The paint on the house wasn’t chipping, the windows were all clean. From the outside, it was the house for a perfect family. The inside was a very different story.
The entire house smelled of cigarettes and alcohol, almost every room smelled like sweat and dirty laundry. One wall in the kitchen had a hole from when Alice’s father had gotten angry about dropping a plastic cup. All the laundry was folded, but still piled high. Everything had its place, but things were so untidy. Beer bottles were stuck to a coffee table that looked as if it was about to give out. Ash trays were placed about the house, but ashes seemed to make it everywhere except in them. Nothing about it seemed like a home.
“Why didn’t you answer my call?” Rob, Alice’s dad, asked as soon as she walked through the door. He was, maybe, half sober. He wore a stained t-shirt and sweats, had a foot kicked onto the table and was watching Cops.
“I was at school.” Alice lied. How could she go to school with a bruise on her face? People would ask questions that she couldn’t answer. And then what would she do? Rob was no fool, that was for certain. But, it was Wednesday and it just made sense that she would have been in school. If she wasn’t going to go, she would have just stayed home. It was all quite simple to him.
Since he accepted her answer and had nothing further to say to her, he excused her with a slight wave of his hand. Nodding, she quickly walked to her room. After setting down her bag, she set off to see what needed to be done.
There were no dishes, in fact, the entire kitchen seemed to be relatively clean. That meant Rob likely hadn’t left the couch all day. That would also mean he hadn’t even eaten. Just drank, and drank, and drank.
“What would you like for dinner?” Alice questioned. It was only 4:30. Still, depending on what he wanted, it might have  taken a while to prepare.
“Surprise me, “ he answered, eyes staying on the T.V. That only ever meant one thing: pizza. She made it atleast twice a week, but rarely ate it.
“Yes, Sir.” with a slight bow of the head, she walked back into the kitchen. Alice set the grimy over to preheat, then began making dough for the crust.
The countertops were caked in various unknown substances. No matter how much she cleaned and scrubbed, it would never come off. It was a hopeless case, sort of like her.
The timer went off and Alice scrambled to pull the pizza out, cut it, and get it on a plate. She handed it to Rob, who was still on the couch, with a beer and a napkin.He didn’t like meals any other way. As it was, Alice wondered if the man had even tasted water in the last 12 years. She certainly hadn’t seen him drink any.
As she sat on her musty-smelling bed, she thought about how she didn’t blame her mom for leaving. If she was older, she would too. This couldn’t be all there was to her life. If there was a god, surely, he’s planned more for her.
“Then again, maybe not.” She whispered to herself as she heard her father’s drunken snores.
If there was nothing more to her life, what was there even to live for? Surely she wasn’t here just to keep him alive. The world didn’t need any drunks who hit their kids.
Though she did feel that way, she scolded herself for thinking it. He was her father, and it was so wrong for a girl to think that way of a parent. After all, he could have dumped her on the streets all alone. It could be much worse.
The single friend that she had, Riley, would be upset with her for thinking such things, for defending Rob. He always told her that it was useless to pretend like nothing was wrong, like nothing was going on. He knew exactly what was going on behind the walls of her home, behind the closed doors. He also knew that, most likely, she would never do anything about it.
Late at night, when everything was silent, Alice would get up and run. She’d go all the way to the park where she and Riley first met as kids.They’d sit under a tree together and talk about everything they could think of. Riley always stayed longer than Alice, he wasn’t afraid that his dad would wake up before he got home.
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A week later, Alice was still in the same situation. Except, this time, it was worse. This time, she knew she was going to leave. One day it would get worse, never better, only worse. Now was the time to get out. Now, when it was only a few bruised ribs and busted lip. It hurt to breathe and she knew that if she stayed, she’d die. He would kill her, eventually.
This time, the waves crashed harder and the clouds covered darker. No birds flew, no wind blew. It was all just dark and desolate. The was no “if” any longer, there was only how.
Alice stopped, just for a moment. She paused to do just one thing. She took a second to throw the phone, as far as she could. Then, she ran, and she never stopped running. And Rob never stopped chasing her.