At the end of a ten-hour shift, James sat in his car alone listening to the sound of the engine hum. He found it hard to distinguish between the throbbing in his head and the occasional hiccups in the old sedan. With both hands on the wheel, he contemplated backing out of the driveway and finding an endless road out in the country to get lost. The tunnel of corn with nothing but a moon at his back and the wall of darkness in front of him beckoned him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Even from the car, he could hear the chaos inside.

His wife was shouting through both the screams of a teenager and some middle-aged man tearing his vocal cords to shreds through a radio in an attempt at what some would call singing. Kaitlin hated it. The newfound obsession for metal music stemmed from their daughter’s new friends. In truth, James didn’t like it either. He just wished the two women he loved most in the world wouldn’t fight over it. They did nearly every night.

A blue light flashed in a window on the second floor. Their oldest child, a young man, yelled into a microphone at friends all over the world. Video games. James could remember when Charlie was around his sister Brooklyn’s age. The boy then wanted to be an architect. Last night their son told them he wasn’t going to college. Something about debt and college being a scam.

James took another deep breath. His headache was somehow worse now.

He turned the car off, grabbed his safety glasses and helmet, and stepped out of the car. It all happened so fast and with no intention, it didn’t feel real. Nor did standing at the door, struggling to unlock it, and entering his home.

“Brook!” his voice boomed across the living room. “Turn that down!” His voice and frustration mixed and even he felt the whip at the end of his words. No sooner had the sentence slipped through his lips did the glare from his wife follow. Her approach to their daughter’s rebellion was reasoning with her. It wasn’t working.

“You’re the parent Kaitlin,” he said feeling both annoyed and frustrated. “Act like it.”

“Don’t talk that way to me in front of the kids!” she snapped back. Fifteen years of marriage and the woman he loved stood before him hurt by his words. This happened every night. Although he knew he was disrespecting her, his patience had been spent on the new hires at work. It was no excuse.

Before he could say he was sorry their daughter started screaming and crying in a way that annoyed him and made her mom suffer. She ran out of the living room and up the stairs. “Sometimes it feels like she waits for you to get home,” Kaitlin whimpered.

“What does that mean?” James replied with no hint of regret for the previous exchange. “I haven’t even taken my boots off Kait. Please, just let me take my boots off.” His wife left through the doorway that led to the kitchen and left him alone with his work clothes.

For a minute, the house was quiet. The last thud from his clay-covered boots marked the end of the silence. James walked through their newly renovated dining room. The light blue walls still bother him but Kaitlin insisted on that specific shade. Morning mist blue. For how much it cost James felt it should make him feel something. Instead, it only made him feel they spent too much. It made Kaitlin happy, but he didn’t like the reason why. The color was popular among house flippers. Kaitlin had these dreams of becoming some real estate big shot and becoming rich. She was a stay-at-home mom. That was her job. That should be enough. Either way, their house was becoming her way of proving she could do it. Their retirement fund was the only thing getting flipped.

“Please don’t track mud through my house!” Kaitlin shouted from around the corner.

“I took my boots off at the door,” he shouted back. He turned the corner and entered his wife’s current project. Half of the cabinets were without doors and there was painter’s tape on the other half.

Standing over the stove with sweat rolling down her cheeks was the most beautiful woman Jame’s had ever seen. Her long light brown hair rested on top of her head held together by an old hair tie clearly on its final days. She was wearing one of her old band shirts and shorts that were meant for his size but not her height. Her long pale legs glistened in old incandescent construction lights. She must have taken down the overhead light. Their eyes met and he could feel her strength, one of the reasons he fell in love with her. She smiled at him as if she forgot how to hate him. This moment was the only reason he came home every day.

“I’m making drumsticks with mashed potatoes and corn,” she said, freeing James from his bliss.

“Smells good.” He made his way over to the washing machine that sat in the corner. He removed his work clothes and slipped on a white t-shirt and basketball shorts that Kait had left out for him. “What was all that yelling about?”

“Your daughter decided she’s vegan and decided I was the devil for cooking chicken like I’ve done a thousand times. That she’s eaten a thousand times. I swear that Luna and Ezra she’s been hanging around are brainwashing her. You heard that music, right? She’s been playing it nonstop since she got off school. You don’t have to listen to it all day like I do. Don’t look at me like that. It would drive you crazy and you know it.”

“She’s discovering who she is, Kait,” James said, ignoring the headache that so desperately wanted to become a migraine. “You never fought with your mom about anything?” He leaned against the counter next to her. The sound of boiling water and crackling butter filled the room.

“Not like this,” she retorted. “I would get mad when I needed to get off the phone to let my mom use the computer. Our daughter called me Hitler for saying she didn’t have to eat the chicken if she didn’t want to but we were going to eat it. I don’t understand why I’m so bad. Don’t look at me like that. Charlie never gave us this kind of trouble. I feel like we’re completely different people. We used to be best friends. I miss my little girl.”

“I know honey,” James said. He wanted to say more. Maybe something like Brook still loves her; she just has a lot more to worry about with how the world is now. Back in the day the news was contained to cities, now everyone knows the worst of humanity the moment it happens. He wanted to say it’ll get better when she gets older and realizes all the sacrifices her mom made for her. Brook is just a child. A teenager. This is normal. All they can do is give her love and guidance and hope for the best. “I’m tired,” he said in a defeated voice.

Now he wasn’t sure if it was sweat from cooking or tears from the pain either way James didn’t have the energy to deal with it. He put his hand on her back and rubbed for a moment. Kaitlin nodded and stepped away to the fridge. James took the opportunity to grab a beer and make his way back to the living room.

With the press of a button, his most prized possession came to life. The light from the T.V. filled the room along with the sound of sportscasters and grunts from teams he didn’t really care for. This was his therapy. Every sip of beer made him sink deeper into his recliner and forget that he had to work in the morning. Sometime later Kait brought him a plate of food which she placed on a T.V. tray and with a plate of her own she sat on the sectional beside him.

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They sat for a few hours eating without talking to each other.

James’ eyes began to feel heavy and he looked over at his wife. She was gone. At some point in the night, she must have gone to bed. Feeling tired himself he turned the T.V. off and found his way up the stairs. Stepping through the upstairs hall made him feel he was walking past different worlds.

The first one he passed was his daughters. She was blaring her music behind a closed door. If he were to open it he would smell the faint smell of marijuana and incense, as if he wouldn’t be able to tell. On the walls were posters of bands with men that looked like girls. Or maybe it was the other way around. His daughter was an enigma to him. He missed that little girl too. Even though both him and her would appreciate it if he opened the door and said that out loud, he didn’t want to bother her. He was tired. He kept moving.

The next world was an energy drink, musk paradise. Behind his son’s door was where cans went to die. If James was honest, it wasn’t the video games themselves that bothered him, it was how much they consumed their son’s life. It was like if he put the controller down he’d die. He didn’t understand how his son didn’t want more out of life. Maybe when he moved out and entered the real world his son would wake up. He will talk to him tomorrow since he is out of high school now. He needed to take responsibility for his future.

Finally, he stood at the entrance to the most distant world in his home, his bedroom. In the darkness, he could see his wife laying on her side of the bed. He wasn’t sure if she was sleeping or not. She always slept so silently. James slipped under the covers and pressed his body against his wife’s. She was warm. Thinking of his other two kids he thought how nice it would be to start over and try again.

They were two good people with big hearts and they were in a much better financial position than they were when they had Charlie. Maybe having a baby was the way to heal their broken spirits. It would give Kait a reason to smile every day. James would love that. She was so happy when the other two were still babies. He realized that without talking his hands were conveying this message.

“James,” his wife grunted. “I was sleeping.”

“We should have another baby,” he said, kissing her cheek. She flipped around and looked him deep in the eyes. Light from the moon slipped through the curtains and made her eyes shimmer.

“Really?” she asked while he went in for a kiss on her neck. He nodded. The embers of love that were on the brink of going out were reignited. Enthusiasm for love overcame the two of them and they tried for another child. After a while they found themselves laying in the dark exhausted. It didn’t take long for both of them to fall asleep.

James awoke from a dream feeling uneasy. He wasn’t sure what the time was but the moon no longer lingered in the sky outside his bedroom window. Something was wrong. He grabbed Kait by the shoulder and made sure she was breathing. She was, and she was annoyed that he had woken her up. The feeling that something was off wouldn’t go away and his heart began to pound. He threw his legs over the bed and went into the hall.

It was dark and the silence seemed so loud. There was something about these late hours that always filled him with a sense of dread. He went to his son’s room and cracked the door. The boy lay in bed half covered in a sheet snoring like he’d never have to wake up. James shut the door and went to his daughter's room. The door was locked. That wasn’t unusual. He pressed his ear to the door and listened.

After a few minutes, he heard her snore that sweet innocent snore only a teenage girl could muster. That made him feel better. Everyone was okay. Still, something was telling him to go downstairs. He took a couple of steps and stood at the top of the stairs. Staring down he waited and listened. There was a slight hum and faint glow coming from the direction of the kitchen. Kaitlin must have left the construction light on, he thought to himself. He took a deep breath and smiled. He must have seen it when he went to bed and only remembered it in the middle of his dream.

James took a few steps down the stairs when he felt a hand shove him between the shoulder blades. The sudden sense of falling made his heart sink. His feet lifted from the steps and all at once he was floating above the stairs. That was until gravity beckoned him. He did his best to protect his head but the impact of the wooden stairs bent his wrist the wrong way. He slid a few steps banging his shins along the way. His head hit the floor, his body fell behind. The room felt like it was still spinning.

James tried to push himself up, finding his wrist was broken. Pain shot through his whole body. He was able to turn his head and see a person standing at the top dressed in all black and wielding an axe. He wasn’t sure if it was from the pain or from anger, but James yelled out. When the figure walked into the hall the sudden realization hit him. Whoever it was, was going for his family now.

James heard a loud banging. The person must be trying to get into his daughter’s room. James had to hurry. He awkwardly flipped his body onto the stairs. The pain wasn’t letting him move his legs the way he wanted. “Brook!” he yelled out between the banging on the bedroom door.

The sound stopped and James heard the footsteps walk further down the hall. A door opened and a painful groan reverberated down the hall. “Charlie!” James yelled out to his son. He wasn’t sure who was hurt but there was a sound of a struggle and then silence. All the while James was moving up the stairs, one by one. Too slow.

Then James heard footsteps and another door open. “James?” he heard his wife’s confused voice asking for him. “James!” she screamed.

“Kait!” he yelled as loud as he could. “Run!” Kait was screaming and James could hear the sound of the axe swinging through the air. She must have been putting up some sort of fight because she was grunting angrily. That was until James heard a wet smacking sound.

“James,” she whispered. He could barely hear it but he knew it was the last breath she was going to take. James was at the top of the stairs. He could hear something splashing, like when you get hit by a wave at the beach. Then it was just the thud of metal against wood. Then it was the sound of heavy breathing.

“Kait!” James called out. He was holding back tears. The fear was giving him the strength to ignore the pain. He raised himself to his feet and stepped over to Brook’s door. He banged on it a few times calling out for her.

“Dad?” she asked, the fear evident in her shaking voice. “What’s going on?”

“Someone’s in here!” he shouted. “Unlock the door!” The sound of the lock unlatching clicked in his hands. He turned the handle and saw she was crying and peed herself. He pulled her into the hallway and could hear footsteps coming from his bedroom.

“Go!” he said, pushing her toward the stairs. “I’ll hold him here. Go get help!”

She froze at the stairs when she looked back and saw the person holding a blood-soaked axe in her parent’s bedroom doorway. James noticed it and yelled, “run!”

The intruder burst into a sprint. Brook yelled but managed to get down the stairs. James intercepted the person and grabbed the axe. “Why are you doing this?” he asked desperately.

They struggled for control of the axe until suddenly the murderer just let go. James lost his footing and fell back. Trying to catch his fall he dropped the axe and fell directly on his broken wrist. The pain swallowed him again. The intruder quickly went for the axe.

James fell in a way that he could see down the stairs. He could see his daughter struggling to open the door. Her fear was not allowing her to figure out the locks she had opened a thousand times. The sound of a long woosh like that of a baseball bat right before hitting a homerun consumed the hallway. Then there was great pressure in James’ chest. He couldn’t breathe.

Looking down at the pressure he watched as the intruder stepped onto his torso to pull the axe out of a gaping bloody hole. James couldn’t move. He tried to yell “run” again but only coughed up blood. For some reason, his daughter decided to look back at him. It only halted her escape. The intruder jumped over his body and sprinted down the stairs.

Finally, Brook managed to open the door and get out, but it was too late. She made it off the porch and into the street. She screamed as loud as she could. The murderer closed in and landed the axe in the back of her head. Both her and the intruder fell onto the asphalt.

The last thing James saw was the murderer pulling the axe out of his daughter’s head and running off into the dark behind the houses. The sun was rising on Lake street.