Josh was hopeless, so we left him behind. Now, we were facing a dark oak door leading to my father's office. My uncle turned the knob.
We fell silent as soon as my father came into view. He was dressed in his usual cream turtleneck, his overcoat hung over the back of his chair. The office light reflected off his glasses, catching us briefly before he continued with his paperwork.
Kyra was the first one to storm in, slamming her hands against his desk. "I refuse to accept this treatment. What did we do to spend a night among strangers, sleeping on old dusty benches. Huh?!"
My father ignored her. It was clear: this was punishment, not a bad joke. "Elroy," he said to my uncle, "where's Joshua?"
Uncle Elroy seemed shaken. "Um, uh… sorry. I, uh, tried to stop him from running, but… you know the boy."
He'd broken out his signature stutter. Sometimes I wondered why he stuttered so much around my father.
My father quickly went back to work.
"Answer me, Wilbur, what did we do?" Kyra asked, frustrated. "You think mom would approve of how you treat your children? You think she'd smile. I know you left—"
He dropped his pen and glared at her before she could say something interesting.
She cried in confusion. "Stop it! Stop looking at me like that."
My father pushed his chair backwards. The scrape broke the silence. He stood and started moving toward her, slowly.
She moved backwards as he extended his hand. She flinched, closed her eyes and waited for the blow.
Instead my father grasped her forehead, forcing her eyes open until she met his gaze.
Then—
He hit her with a sharp blow to the gut. Kyra doubled over, gasping, holding back tears. It must have hit hard.
She clutched her stomach as her knees gave way, gritted her teeth and spat, "I hate you more than this planet!"
Planet? That wasn't a normal thing to say. So I shifted my gaze to uncle Elroy. As expected, he panicked in reaction after hearing her say it, then smoothed his face when he caught me watching.
Kyra stood up and stormed out. Her footsteps echoed angrily down the hallway.
"You can leave," my father said.
He was talking to me. I left the room without question, glad to be off the hook.
In the living room outside my father's office, It hit me: Kyra was about to reveal something in there, and I wanted to know what.
So I chased after her, took the stairs two at a time and left the first floor behind.