Chapter 1 - The Moment I Opened the Refrigerator
The first thing I heard when I came through the right-side doorway into our kitchen was my son crying.
Not whining.
Not fussing.
Screaming.
The sound was coming from the refrigerator.
For one second, my mind simply refused to understand what my ears were telling me. Then I saw Diane standing near the open space by the island, and Ryan standing uselessly beside it, and I ran.
I yanked the refrigerator door open.
Noah was curled on the bottom shelf space, his little green dinosaur shirt smeared with leftovers. Rice and sauce clung to his hair and cheeks. The same plate that had been thrown at him lay shattered nearby, and cold air rolled over his shaking body.
“NOAH?!”
He reached for me with both hands.
I pulled him out so fast I nearly lost my balance, then crushed him against my chest. He was trembling so hard I could feel it through my blouse.
Behind me, Diane said it as calmly as if she were commenting on the weather.
“BAD KIDS EAT LIKE DOGS.”
Something inside me went dead still.
I turned slowly, carrying Noah, and looked straight at her. She wasn’t embarrassed. She wasn’t even flustered. She looked annoyed that I had interrupted her.
I set Noah down in the safe space behind the kitchen island, close enough that I could still see him, far enough that Diane couldn’t touch him first.
Then I crossed the floor and drove my foot straight into Diane’s torso.
She flew backward and crashed down near the refrigerator, dazed but conscious, her cream blouse twisted under her as she hit the tile.
Only then did Ryan move.
He stepped away from the island as if waking up late from a dream.
I turned and slapped him so hard his head snapped to the side.
That was when Noah cried from behind me, his voice breaking into little hiccupping sobs.
“She called me a bad dog...”
I dropped to my knees beside him, pulled him against me, and dragged my phone from my pocket with a shaking hand.
I stared up at Ryan.
“ARE YOU JUST GOING TO STAND THERE AND WATCH?”
He froze.
On the floor by the refrigerator, Diane was still conscious.
And in my hand, my phone screen lit up with a delayed motion alert from the kitchen camera.
That was the moment I realized this nightmare had not started when I walked into the room.
It had started before I got home.
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And my phone might have recorded all of it.
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