Chap­ter 63 of If These Wings Could Fly opens with an unset­tling scene as the pro­tag­o­nist wakes up ear­ly on Christ­mas Day, dis­turbed by the loud music of Axl Rose and the raised voic­es com­ing from down­stairs. Despite the chill­ing atmos­phere, the pro­tag­o­nist hes­i­tant­ly moves toward their sis­ters’ room and finds them hud­dled togeth­er, vis­i­bly fright­ened by the sounds of the argu­ment down­stairs. This moment of fear sets the stage for the chaot­ic events that fol­low, as the pro­tag­o­nist lis­tens care­ful­ly, piec­ing togeth­er the situation—an angry father search­ing for his lost cell phone. The ten­sion between them all is thick and pal­pa­ble, and the protagonist’s unease inten­si­fies when they make their way toward the win­dow to see what’s hap­pen­ing out­side, but then decides to act. Using a screw from Liam’s win­dowsill, they attempt to fix the bro­ken lock on their door, feel­ing the heavy weight of the uncer­tain­ty and fear around them. Despite the nerves creep­ing in, the pro­tag­o­nist push­es through the fear and final­ly opens the door to join their moth­er and face the increas­ing­ly volatile sit­u­a­tion in the kitchen, prepar­ing for the inevitable con­fronta­tion with their father.

The father, vis­i­bly enraged, is hold­ing a copy of the Auburn Gazette, where the protagonist’s essay, writ­ten with the intent of heal­ing famil­ial wounds, has been pub­lished anony­mous­ly. Although the essay was meant to pro­vide insight and offer a con­struc­tive way for­ward for the fam­i­ly, their father inter­prets it as an attack on his author­i­ty and their fam­i­ly’s rep­u­ta­tion. His anger is direct­ed square­ly at the pro­tag­o­nist, as he accus­es them of ruin­ing their lives by air­ing their per­son­al strug­gles in pub­lic. The father’s inabil­i­ty to see the essay as a means to fix what is bro­ken deep­ens the rift, and his frus­tra­tion only grows, fur­ther esca­lat­ing the sit­u­a­tion. With each pass­ing moment, the daugh­ters find them­selves more and more caught in the cross­fire of their father’s rage. The grow­ing ten­sion makes it clear that this is no longer a sim­ple fam­i­ly dis­pute, but a much larg­er threat to their safe­ty. As their father’s fury turns phys­i­cal, assault­ing their moth­er in a vio­lent out­burst, the pro­tag­o­nist is pushed to inter­vene in a des­per­ate attempt to stop the vio­lence. The act of step­ping for­ward is one fueled by the instinct to pro­tect, yet it only adds to the chaos of the moment as the fam­i­ly fights to defend them­selves from their father’s aggres­sion.

As the chap­ter inten­si­fies, the sit­u­a­tion becomes increas­ing­ly fraught, with the pro­tag­o­nist real­iz­ing the full extent of their vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty. The vio­lence, unpre­dictabil­i­ty, and des­per­a­tion leave them feel­ing small and pow­er­less, and the weight of their pow­er­less­ness is over­whelm­ing. Just as it seems that there is no hope left, an unex­pect­ed and seem­ing­ly triv­ial event occurs: their father’s lost cell phone falls onto the win­dowsill. This seem­ing­ly insignif­i­cant occur­rence serves as a sym­bol of hope—an open­ing, a chance to escape or com­mu­ni­cate and poten­tial­ly seek help in a moment of des­per­a­tion. The falling phone, almost imper­cep­ti­ble amidst the chaos, rep­re­sents a flick­er of pos­si­bil­i­ty in an oth­er­wise hope­less sit­u­a­tion. For the pro­tag­o­nist, it offers a brief respite, an unex­pect­ed chance to find a way out of the ten­sion and fear that has gripped them for so long. The chap­ter con­cludes with a poignant sense of frag­ile hope as the pro­tag­o­nist real­izes that, while the sit­u­a­tion remains dire, there is a way for­ward, even if it is uncer­tain. This brief moment hints that change might be pos­si­ble, despite the chaos, offer­ing a poten­tial escape from the vio­lence that has defined their fam­i­ly life up to this point. The chap­ter cap­tures the raw emo­tion of fam­i­ly trau­ma, high­light­ing the des­per­ate strug­gle for safe­ty and the pro­found instinct to pro­tect loved ones against over­whelm­ing odds.