"God dammit!" he screamed, grabbing the keyboard he'd been trying to make work at it's sides and jerking it toward me, and then in the other direction. The cord connecting it to the modem ripped free and it flew across the room, hitting the door with a harsh noise. The keys spewed out in every direction upon the impact, splattering to the ground with a sound similar to glass. All in one motion my tense nerves spazzed and I was freaking out. He pushed himself out of his chair and flung the door into the garage open. Storming out, he slammed the door and my fingers rapidly spelled out a simple excuse. Tears squirted from my eyes as I clenched the handle to the door leading to the hall. I flicked it open and walked blindly down the hall toward my mother who was asking what had happened.
"He didn't hit me. He didn't hit me. I'm okay." I sputtered, trying to calm myself down.
"Kayla, what happened?" Mom was asking, toying with the tie on her sweater.
"He... he got mad." Stumbling and breathing heavily I stepped over the board blocking the dogs in. They stared up at me as I walked a familiar path to the loveseat and bunched myself into the fetal position on it. Mom went and inspected the damage as I allowed my phone to beep erractically with the arrival of a new text. "He didn't hit me. I'm okay. He didn't hit me. I'm okay," I whispered to myself, trying to breathe.
Tears streamed down my face in small rivers as I lifted my head to the ceiling. They collected in the hollow at the base of my throat and I breathed through my nose. I could hear my mother picking up the pieces that littered the office floor. When she came back she whispered for me to calm down, but didn't bother to try to touch me. He didn't hit me. I'm okay. still ran through my head as my fingers mindlessly texted an answer to whoever thought their problem was more important at that moment.
"You should get your shoes on. If he comes back in this state, we're dead," she said and picked up the phone to dial a number she knew all to well. "Mom, everything is all wrong," she said into the mouthpiece. I finally knew where I'd learned to just jump right into the problem. "He started screaming m-f this and m-f that and threw his keyboard, popping the keys everywhere. Kayla's scared... Should we just pack a suitcase and come stay with you for a while? Will that make things better? I just don't know what to do anymore." I zoned the rest of it out as she moved down the hall. She rushed back a moment later. "He's back." The phone wasn't in her hand. She was talking to me. My heart raced and I cried harder. "Calm down, baby. Calm down."
Then he didn't come in and I was finally registering the texts I'd been answering with simple words. "Just, go up to your room," Dakota's had said. I suppose I told her in my frantic state...

The rest is a blur. I only remember asking Devlin to distract me somehow and them Mom asking me to leave with her. I sure as hell wasn't staying. Not with him waiting to explode out in the truck.