She looked up. “Nothing.”
Then came the day everything changed.
Then she ran off.
It was strange, but not strange enough to start a fight.
Then came the day everything changed.
The girls both had little colds, so I stayed home with them. They were miserable for about an hour, then turned into loud, sniffly chaos.
“I’m dying,” Grace announced from the couch.
“You have a runny nose,” I said.
By noon they were playing hide-and-seek like tiny maniacs.
Emily sneezed into a blanket. “I’m also dying.”
“Very tragic,” I said. “Drink your juice.”
By noon they were playing hide-and-seek like tiny maniacs.
“No running,” I called.
They ran.
“No jumping off furniture.”
Grace yelled from upstairs, “That was Emily!”
Something cold moved through me.
Emily yelled back, “I’m baby! I don’t know rules!”
I was heating soup when Grace came into the kitchen and tugged my sleeve.
Her face was serious.
“Do you want to meet my mom?”
I stared at her. “What?”
She nodded. “Do you want to meet my mom? She liked hide-and-seek too.”
My heart started pounding.
Something cold moved through me.
“Grace,” I said carefully, “what do you mean?”
She frowned. “Do you want to see where she lives?”
Emily wandered in behind her, dragging a stuffed rabbit by one ear.
“Mommy is downstairs,” she said.
My heart started pounding.
Grace pulled me down the hall like she was showing me a birthday surprise.
“Downstairs where?” I asked.
Grace grabbed my hand. “The basement. Come on.”
Every bad thought hit me at once.
The locked door. The secrecy. The way the girls looked at it. A dead wife. A basement Daniel never opened around me.
Grace pulled me down the hall like she was showing me a birthday surprise.
At the door, she looked up at me and said, “You just have to open it.”
I should have waited. I know that now.
My mouth went dry. “Does Daddy take you down there?”
She nodded. “Sometimes. When he misses her.”
That did not help.
I tried the knob. Locked.
Grace said, “It’s okay. Mommy is there.”
I should have waited. I know that now.
A sharp smell hit me first.
Instead, I pulled two hairpins from my bun and knelt by the lock with shaking hands.
Emily stood beside me, sniffling. Grace bounced on her toes.
The lock clicked.
I froze.
Grace whispered, “See?”
I opened the door.
The basement was dim, but I could see enough.
A sharp smell hit me first. Sour. Damp.
I took one step down, then another.
The basement was dim, but I could see enough.
And then my fear changed.
It wasn’t a body.
It wasn’t some hidden nightmare.
I just stood there.
It was a shrine.
There was an old couch with a blanket folded over one arm. Shelves lined with albums. Framed pictures of Daniel’s wife everywhere. Children’s drawings. Boxes labeled in black marker. A little tea set on a child-sized table. A cardigan hanging over a chair. A pair of women’s rain boots by the wall. An old TV beside stacks of DVDs.
The smell was mildew. A pipe was leaking into a bucket. Water had stained part of the wall.
I just stood there.
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