26. That’s Why I’m Afraid of the Dark

Chapter 26

That’s Why I’m Afraid of the Dark

SJ

I stilled. Her little human heart was beating a crazy rhythm against my palm.

“It was after my bedtime … I remember hearing noises, downstairs. And going into Mum and Dad’s room, frightened. Dad was already up. He … he took a baseball bat.” She made an odd, snorting laugh. “It seems so silly now, but at the time, I thought that he and his baseball bat were invincible, that he’d be able to protect us from anything.”

The shivering in her body intensified until she was wracked with it. I clutched her tighter, my arms like a cage around her.

“When he didn’t come back up, when we heard … sounds from downstairs, Mum told me that I needed to hide. She was … she was very serious about it. But she must have been so … she would’ve been so terrified. She said, ‘Under your bed. Wrap yourself in your blanket. You need to keep silent and still. Like a little mouse, okay?’”

She sucked in a rattling breath, swiping at her cheeks. I swallowed. My chest felt too tight. My throat felt like it was full of rocks. I couldn’t have spoken even if I knew what to say.

“I did what I was told. She was rushing me. Shoving me under the bed. I remember the bed springs squeaking because she … she got up on it, and she took the lightbulb out of the ceiling. And then she was gone.”

Tears were falling freely now, a river of them, soaking my arm. I turned her to face me, my chest aching, my stomach churning. Her eyes were red, she blinked, and more tears streamed out. I swiped them away with my thumb.

“It was so dark, SJ. I … I was so frightened, but I did what I was told. I … I was as quiet as a mouse. Even when I heard sounds from downstairs. Mum crying, Dad … he kept saying, ‘No, don’t hurt her. Please don’t hurt—’” Her words broke off into a sob, and I clutched her to my chest, rubbing hands down her back.

Powerless. Tonight was the night I was to be reminded of how little I could do to help her. In so many ways.

She sucked in a breath. “I heard the front door slam, and I thought … I stupidly thought, ‘Dad got them to leave. And any minute now, Mum will come and pull me out from under the bed and turn the lights on, and everything will be fine’. There were footsteps on the stairs. And then … strangers were cursing, saying, ‘Check every room, hurry!’”

She buried her face against my chest, and her body shook. Tears soaked my skin, the sheets. Her cute little night clothes.