I'Ve Gone Back ~ Part 6

Heading down the stairs I feel the temperature drop as a thick, musty smell hits me in the face. I stop at the bottom of the stairs as the scar on my right foot aches... a reminder of the broken beer bottles that were normally left after the fights. The ping-pong table is in the corner and I can hear the echoing of the ball being hit back and forth in the championship matches. The bar seems eerily empty. Nobody at the barstools. The lights unlit seem very odd. There was rarely a day or night that this basement bar wasn't full of people ranging from teenagers to retirees. I see the glasses still sitting atop the bar. (the ones that show the many sexual positions) My cheeks flush as I still feel the shame of studying that glass as a young girl. The smell of whiskey fills the air and I almost wonder if my head is spinning from the air or from the memory. Either way, I know it's time to leave. As I head back to the stairs I see into the laundry room. The mass piles of laundry that sit at least 4 ft high stare at me as a grim reminder of the time mom thought that would be a great hiding place and burrowed like an animal under one of the moldy piles to escape the wrath of dad (leaving us to take the brunt of his anger) . The stairs seem almost welcoming now. I feel as if they are helping me climb them. The need to get out of this house is overwhelming. I don't even remember walking out or through the garage again. I just remember filling my lungs with the sweetest air I've ever breathed once I was on the road and heading towards my home. **The final piece in a Series of 6