The man standing in the center of the room had his back turned and red hair poked out like straw from his glistening scalp. He turned to look at them. For the second time that day, her chest filled with unspeakable emotion. She closed her eyes to force the memories to move quicker, but her heart was racing so fast that it all just made her dizzy.

He smiled and licked his lips. “Hello, Therese.”

The woman on the floor took advantage of his distraction to rise and wipe the blood from her mouth. The two children were standing together, Daryl in front of the girl as though he was trying to protect her.

“Have you met my lovely wife and children?” He said it as if they had just run into each other at the grocery store. He extended his hand, which she had the overwhelming urge to bite.

The woman’s eye was ringed in blue.

Lionel’s signature work.

Her black dress was ripped at the waist. She hoisted up the edge of her skirt and used it to dab at her face, exposing a red bruise on her knee. But that was not what caused Therese to stop and stare. It was the look of desperation that she recognized.

Patiently, she waited. And then, like the seconds it takes to breathe in a deep gulp of air, it came to her. A layer of sweat started at her temples and worked itself down the side of her neck as images and sounds crashed inside her head and then suddenly none of it mattered anymore because there was only one thought left.

“Where is Matilda?”

It was Daryl who spoke. But when he did, it was so quiet she could barely hear.

“Gone.”

The sweat slid cold and thin, farther down her chest. Lionel dug a flask out his pants pocket. He took a long, leisurely sip, and when he was finished, threw it down and grabbed the woman by the arm. She cried out softly, pushing him away, but he pulled harder until again she fell to the floor.

“It’s time for you to get going now,” Tim mumbled.

Therese had forgotten he was there.

Lionel turned to him. “You’re the one who’s going.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “And take that bitch with you.”

There was a moment of silence where no one moved or spoke. All she could hear was music in the background, maybe from the little radio on the table or maybe it was just inside her head. Then everything happened slowly, like they were all moving under water.

Lionel cocked his head back and leapt forward as if he was diving into a pool. The two men grabbed one another and began to roll on the floor. The music played and the woman screamed and Daryl and his sister huddled in a corner.