Chap­ter 44 unfolds with an intense surge of emo­tion­al ten­sion as Leighton is sud­den­ly awok­en by her mother’s dis­tressed cry in the mid­dle of the night. Instinc­tive­ly, she rush­es to her younger sis­ters, Cam­my and Juniper, who are hud­dled togeth­er, whis­per­ing in fear that some­thing ter­ri­ble is hap­pen­ing to their moth­er. Dri­ven by the urgency of the sit­u­a­tion, Leighton quick­ly instructs the girls to hide in the armoire, telling them to remain silent and stay safe. Despite her own grow­ing anx­i­ety, she forces her­self to leave them alone in the dark, know­ing that their safe­ty depends on their stay­ing out of sight. The fear of what might hap­pen next weighs heav­i­ly on her, but she knows she must pro­tect her sis­ters while she faces the chaos unfold­ing down­stairs.

Leighton moves cau­tious­ly down the stairs, each step filled with hes­i­ta­tion. When she reach­es the bot­tom step, she freezes, her heart pound­ing as she lis­tens to the unset­tling sounds com­ing from the kitchen. Her mother’s des­per­ate plea for release echoes through the house, a cry that cuts through the ten­sion like a sharp blade. Leighton’s mind races, and she finds her­self trapped between want­i­ng to pro­tect her moth­er and fear­ing the con­se­quences of get­ting involved. In the dark­ness of the house, she tries to make her­self as invis­i­ble as pos­si­ble, hop­ing that her pres­ence will go unno­ticed. The weight of the sit­u­a­tion press­es heav­i­ly on her, and she strug­gles to sup­press the urge to inter­vene, hop­ing that stay­ing out of sight will keep her moth­er safe, even though it feels like a betray­al.

The atmos­phere remains thick with dread as Leighton remains frozen, her thoughts filled with uncer­tain­ty. She notices a crack in the wall, grow­ing larg­er as she tries to push against it, sym­bol­iz­ing the deep­en­ing frac­ture in their fam­i­ly. As the sit­u­a­tion in the kitchen becomes clear­er, Leighton real­izes her moth­er has been cry­ing, although she hasn’t shown it direct­ly. This real­iza­tion deep­ens the emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ty of the moment, and Leighton is con­sumed by the ten­sion of the scene. Her moth­er, despite her vis­i­ble dis­tress, is still try­ing to main­tain con­trol, try­ing to man­age the volatile sit­u­a­tion with the man wield­ing the knife. The con­flict inten­si­fies, and Leighton feels a grow­ing sense of help­less­ness as she watch­es her fam­i­ly torn apart by vio­lence.

Unable to remain pas­sive any longer, Leighton sum­mons all of her courage and rush­es into the kitchen, des­per­ate­ly urg­ing her moth­er to leave with her. The scene erupts into a phys­i­cal con­fronta­tion, with the man resist­ing vio­lent­ly, mak­ing it clear that any attempt to leave would be met with resis­tance. Leighton is caught in the midst of this chaos, her mother’s pro­tec­tive instinct guid­ing her as she shields Leighton from the man’s wrath. Over­whelmed by the ter­ror of the moment, Leighton flees back to the armoire, tears chok­ing her throat as she hides, feel­ing help­less in the face of the vio­lence that has enveloped her fam­i­ly. The over­whelm­ing weight of the sit­u­a­tion press­es down on her as she strug­gles to process the hor­ror unfold­ing before her eyes.

After what feels like an eter­ni­ty, the man final­ly leaves, and a heavy silence falls over the house. Leighton emerges from the armoire, her body trem­bling with exhaus­tion and relief. Though shak­en by the events that have just tran­spired, there is a small flick­er of hope in her heart. The calm that fol­lows the storm feels frag­ile, and Leighton knows that, though the imme­di­ate dan­ger has passed, the emo­tion­al toll of the night will stay with her for much longer. This chap­ter marks a piv­otal moment of vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty and resilience for Leighton, as she nav­i­gates the com­plex­i­ties of famil­ial love and vio­lence, find­ing strength in the face of over­whelm­ing fear.