Peyton Davis is publishing here for the first time.

The Casualty
By Peyton Davis

They were fighting again. The house seemed to stand on edge—perched on a precipice, its stillness the only thing that kept it from hurtling into oblivion. The walls seemed to rumble echoing the shouts between a lying man and a woman who had grown tired of believing him.

Their two voices clashed—a violent cacophony piercing the silence of the night. Accusations made, insults traded, my world shattered. Voices like swords, words like blades. Two foes battled atop a cliff of uncertainty. It may have been the man and the woman fighting, but their only casualty was me.

A final misstep—a fatal mistake. The voices grew closer. The door to my room parted.

“Get up,” the woman said. “We’re leaving,” and off the cliff, we tumbled.