Chap­ter 13 begins with Leighton being abrupt­ly wok­en at 3:30 AM by the unset­tling creak of her bed­room door. Fear puls­es through her as frag­ments of a dis­turb­ing night­mare linger in her mind, but she quick­ly tries to reas­sure her­self, remind­ing her­self that her fam­i­ly is safe. Her thoughts turn to her sis­ters and moth­er, affirm­ing they are all okay despite the eerie feel­ing that lingers in the air. At that moment, her younger sis­ter Juniper appears at her side, seek­ing com­fort from the unset­tling nois­es that echo from out­side the room. Leighton encour­ages Juniper to climb into bed with her, offer­ing a sense of safe­ty in the midst of their shared unease.

As they begin to set­tle, the muf­fled voic­es com­ing from down­stairs con­tin­ue to dis­rupt their frag­ile calm, sig­nal­ing an esca­lat­ing ten­sion that nei­ther can ignore. Juniper, rest­less and unable to find peace, sug­gests they play a game she calls “Any­where But Here,” designed to offer a men­tal escape from the fright­en­ing sounds out­side. This game pro­vides a dis­trac­tion, and soon their old­er sis­ter Camp­bell joins them, though reluc­tant­ly, mir­ror­ing the somber mood that fills the room. Togeth­er, they immerse them­selves in their imag­i­na­tive game, describ­ing far-off places like the Galá­pa­gos Islands and Lon­don, try­ing to push the fear aside. How­ev­er, their escape is short-lived, as the sound of a loud crash from down­stairs abrupt­ly shat­ters the frag­ile peace, and the sis­ters instinc­tive­ly hud­dle togeth­er, each feel­ing the cold grip of fear tight­en around them.

The crash ampli­fies their anx­i­ety, and Juniper, near­ly chok­ing on a cry, seeks even more com­fort. Real­iz­ing that their game can no longer shield them from the ter­ror out­side, they retreat to their grandmother’s armoire, stash­ing clothes and oth­er items to cre­ate a small, cozy refuge with­in. Leighton grabs a kerosene lantern, one that reminds her of her grand­fa­ther, and lights it, cast­ing a soft glow over their makeshift hide­out. The dim lantern light cre­ates a sense of warmth and secu­ri­ty, offer­ing a tem­po­rary escape from the grow­ing sense of fear that looms out­side. Inside their cramped sanc­tu­ary, they begin to cre­ate shad­ow pup­pets, their imag­i­na­tions tem­porar­i­ly replac­ing the dread that sur­rounds them. As they play, Leighton reflects on how their father once taught her this game, and how it was once a com­fort dur­ing nights filled with sim­pler fears. The play­ful shad­ows of ani­mals on the walls pro­vide them with a brief respite, allow­ing them to for­get, if only for a moment, the dan­ger that threat­ens their peace.

How­ev­er, as the light of the lantern flick­ers and dims, real­i­ty begins to creep back into their small sanc­tu­ary. Leighton, ever the pro­tec­tor, remains alert, her pri­ma­ry focus being the safe­ty and com­fort of her sis­ters. She blows out the lantern, plung­ing them back into dark­ness, and they are left alone with the uncer­tain­ty that hangs in the air. The dim­ming light serves as a metaphor for the fleet­ing sense of safe­ty they have cre­at­ed in the armoire. Yet, despite the encroach­ing dark­ness, their bond remains unshak­en. They face their fears togeth­er, silent­ly, prov­ing that even in the most ter­ri­fy­ing moments, the strength of their con­nec­tion is what keeps them ground­ed. This pow­er­ful moment of uni­ty speaks vol­umes about their resilience, show­ing that their love for each oth­er can with­stand even the dark­est of cir­cum­stances.

The chapter’s atmos­phere con­trasts the inno­cence of child­hood games with the harsh real­i­ties of fear and uncer­tain­ty. As Leighton and her sis­ters nav­i­gate the ten­sion that per­me­ates their home, they cre­ate their own small world of safe­ty, high­light­ing the impor­tance of famil­ial bonds dur­ing times of cri­sis. The chap­ter show­cas­es how, even in moments of vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, the sis­ters find strength in one anoth­er, lean­ing on each oth­er to cope with the dark­ness that sur­rounds them. This dynam­ic not only empha­sizes the emo­tion­al depth of the char­ac­ters but also high­lights the theme of resilience, show­ing that, in times of adver­si­ty, famil­ial love can be an anchor that keeps them ground­ed and hope­ful.