Darlene pushes the bureau against the door as she listens to Frank scream in the living room. Soon he will notice her absence and begin trying to push his way through the door. Last month he had broken through the lock, and beaten her so badly, she spent a week in the hospital. She wants to leave, she has a plan hidden in her mind, and money waiting underneath a floorboard in the closet. He never looks there, never cleans anything—it seems like the safest place.

He has so many spies watching her. At work she can feel the hot glare of one of his cousins waiting for her to step out of line. She wonders what they talk about at family gatherings when she tries to smile at his aunts and uncles. Do they relish their torment, telling stories about the women they cower? She is never alone, someone is always at their house, waiting for a wrong move. She is their queen, and they circle viciously.

She waits behind the heavy furniture, wondering what will happen in the next ten minutes.