Kenneth peered at the shoes in his room from underneath his bed. The shoes connected to his father’s feet. Please don’t let him look under here. Please don’t have him flip the bed. Kenneth begged whatever powers that be every time his father went on a rampage like this. Usually, the powers that be let him down. Tonight, he would be lucky. His father was too far gone tonight. He ran out of steam and nearly in mid-yell, he passed out on the bed. That brought other problems with it, but at least he wouldn’t have to wear long sleeves to school tomorrow to cover the bruising on his arm where he got yanked out from under the bed.

Now he was just trapped under the bed. He hoped he didn’t have to pee, and almost more than than that, he hoped his father wouldn’t pee himself in the bed again. Dare he sleep? Kenneth decided he had to. He couldn’t afford to fall asleep in class.

When his father’s snoring woke Kenneth up, he wriggled out from under the bed and escaped to the living room of the tiny, unkept apartment. He checked the clock. Four. He’d make their lunches now, so if he overslept he wouldn’t get in trouble. He checked the refrigerator. They were almost out of bread. Who knows if his father would buy any. He made dad’s sandwich and put it in a wrinkled paper bag on the top shelf of the refrigerator. He didn’t dare make one for himself before his dad brought more bread home. That chore done, he cleaned up as best he could in the kitchen sink. He tried not to go into the bathroom any more than necessary. It stank, and he dad was always accusing him of messing with his product. He wanted nothing to do with any of that. Checking the clock again, it was 4:30. He didn’t want to risk having his dad wake up while he was still here. He was ready for school, so he made sure he had his key and jacket, then slipped out of the apartment. There was a play fort on the playground, and he could spend some time there until it was time to go into school. He just had to make it to the school grounds without being stopped and questioned. He thought he knew the way. At least, so far, it had worked for him. The only people out at 4:30 in the morning were cops and joggers. If he could avoid both of them, he’d be fine. Joggers were unpredictable, but he knew it was best to not put himself into a position where anyone would ask questions about why a little boy was out so early in the morning. He got laughed at for wearing a jacket at this time of year, but the playground was cold just before dawn.

________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting for the April A-Z Blogging Challenge. Today’s entry is a work of fiction. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it in comments — what you liked or didn’t like. Each day will be a little different, so if you don’t want to miss an entry, please enter your email address below, press sign-up, then check your inbox to click the validation link to get these blog posts in your inbox.