Night Runner (flash fiction)

The boy tried to shrink beneath the covers. The yelling in the front room was one-sided, slurred. "Goddam you," he heard, accompanied by a slap and his mama's cry. His pillow could not smother the tingly crash of the telephone hitting the wall.

Then silence.

Mama peeked in. "Run to Calley's," she whispered.

The gravel cut into his feet as he ran, but he did not feel the pain.

Calley hugged him into her breasts. "It'll be okay, boy," she said, glancing toward her husband who was loading his shotgun on his way out the door. "It'll be okay.