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Well I woke up to the sound of silence

And cries were cutting like knives in a fistfight

-Fun. Carry On

It is 4 am on a Wednesday morning. Most little girls should still be sleeping in their beds having sweet dreams of magical things. They should be snuggled up tight in their blankets with a few stuffed animals around them. They should be at peace. They should be happy.

But at 4 am on this morning, on most mornings, Raven Roth at the tender age of six years old is witnessing something that no child should ever have to see. She doesn't as much see it as hear it. Raven is sitting at the bottom of the stairs while her parents, Arella and Tristan, are arguing in the kitchen.

Tristan has come home far too late again. She rose, jolted awake and ran down the stairs as soon as she heard his the heavy slam of the door and his hulking footsteps some through the door. He obviously wasn't in the clearest frame of mind. In fact Raven had never seen him looking so disoriented and angry before.

This is not a first; Tristan has never been the nicest, even on his best days. And Raven knows that when her father comes home late he is bound to be in a worst mood than usual. She knows that he will come stumbling through the front door, through the hallway and go straight to the kitchen.

In the kitchen he finds Ravens mother. Arella is obviously the parent who Raven takes after most. They both have the same black hair; they both have the same soft features and calm and serene outlook on life.

But on these late nights and early mornings Arella is not her usual calm self. Raven can always hear her mother pacing, worriedly in the kitchen. She knows her mother is cleaning and cleaning everything again and again; never wanting her hands to be still. She will make tea and sip it while waiting for her husband to come home. Hoping and wishing for her husband to come home.

But once Tristan makes his way through the kitchens threshold is when the sparks to fly.

Tristan will start yelling at Arella as soon as he spots her. He will accuse her of ridiculous things in his too loud voice. He will call her dirty awful names, which Raven knows she is never supposed to use. Tristan will yell and scream at his wife for hours sometimes, somehow never loosing steam.

Sometimes he will even raise a hand to Arella' face. It is never too hard, but it's always loud enough that Raven can hear it from her spot on the stairs.

Through all this Raven never hears a peep come from her mother. She never speaks or shouts back at Tristan. Even when the hitting comes Arella is still silent.

After awhile the fighting will end and Raven will have fallen asleep on the stairs at some point. When the normal morning hours come, she always finds herself back in her bed with her mother lying next to her with a small but serene smile on her face.

But this night was different.

Tristan came home again; much too late and much too out of his mind. He stumbled into the kitchen, where like always Arella was waiting for him. Tristan started yelling, but something was different. His voice was louder; his speech was much more slurred. And Rave could hear things being flung around the kitchen.

Her mother, usually totally silent, started speaking. Her voice was too low for Raven to hear what she was saying, but it sounded panicked. Tristan's voice only grew louder, and the noise of things being thrown around only continued.

And then she heard it; the slap that meant her mother had just been hit. Usually this wouldn't happen until the yelling started to lessen. And then it happened again, and again.

Arella was louder now, but Tristan was louder still. Raven knew though, that a conversation wasn't happening. Tristan's yelling was continuous, he wasn't listening to Arella but just kept yelling louder and louder words slurring into each other and making no sense. Arella's voice sounded furtive and worried, and also hurt.

Raven rose from her seat, feeling too scared to stay downstairs. But at that exact moment in which she stood her fathers eyes met hers through the banister of the stairs.

But that's not what Raven noticed.

Raven noticed her mother. Arella was standing a so Raven could see her profile, and what she saw scared her so much she couldn't move an inch. Arella hair, the hair that Raven had inherited from her was a mess, it stood up at some points and looked jostled all over. All over her mothers pale skin Raven could see red spots where her father had laid his bare hands on her. On her face and arms there were little nicks, the kind Raven got when she tried to help with dinner put didn't pay attention to her knife.

Raven was so stunned at her mother's appearance; she didn't notice her father moving towards her until her mother started screaming. Screaming for Tristan to stop. Screaming for Raven to run.

Raven, as always did as told and sprinted up the stairs to her room. The last thing she saw was Arella lunging at Tristan from behind. She locked the door as soon as she was inside, somehow knowing to do so without being told. She dove under her covers and reached for a stuffed animal to snuggle with. But the only thing on the bed was the book Arella had been reading to Raven when she went to bed. So Raven held Winnie the Pooh in her arms, huddled under her covers and waited for her mother. Waited for safety.

It was not the usual comforting sight of Arella that awoke Raven the next morning. It was the sight of four strangers in uniforms standing in her room. One of them trying to gently wake Raven up.

The one woman of the group spoke to Raven but she didn't hear a word. She didn't say anything, didn't even make eye contact as one of the men picked her up with her blankets and book and walked her down the stairs and to the front yard.

The officers had tried to shield her from the sight in the kitchen, but she saw. She saw her mother, on her back, surrounded by a pool of blood with the carving knife in her chest. And she saw her father, passed out on the sofa in the living room, with a can of beer in his hand.

Raven didn't say anything as she was deposited into the back of a police car. As more strangers came and said words that Raven didn't hear. She didn't cry or scream either. She just clutched her book, and knew she would never see Arella again.