Chapter 14 - What Lily Had Really Been Afraid Of
For a long time, I thought Lily had only feared the hitting.
That would have been bad enough.
But children often hold one image in their mind that adults overlook.
About a month after Vanessa and Margaret were forced out, Lily and I were sitting on the floor of the family room coloring.
She drew a square.
Then another square around it.
Then a stick figure.
Then she said, “Bad room.”
I looked at the drawing.
“What bad room?”
She pointed toward the garage hallway.
After gently asking, and asking again later with a therapist present, I learned something that made me sick.
Vanessa and Margaret had a ritual.
When Lily cried “too much,” they put her in the dark pantry off the kitchen for a few minutes at a time.
Not long enough to leave visible injury.
Long enough to terrify a two-year-old.
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That was why Lily panicked when I picked up my keys.
That was why she feared being left.
