Chapter 3: The Night of the Break-In
That night, Margaret stayed up with Lily, sitting on her bed and holding her while she slept. She’d called the police, but they’d told her they couldn’t do anything without more evidence. “It’s your word against his,” the officer had said, and Margaret had hung up the phone, furious. She’d spent the rest of the night pacing the apartment, checking the locks on the doors and windows over and over again.
At around 2 a.m., Lily woke up to a loud crash from the living room. She sat up in bed, her heart racing, and saw her mother standing over her, her hand over her mouth. “Stay here,” Margaret whispered, grabbing a baseball bat from under her bed and tiptoeing out of the room. Lily crept out after her, her bare feet cold on the floor, and peeked around the corner of the hallway.
The front door was wide open, and a man was standing in the living room, holding a flashlight. He was wearing a black ski mask, and he had a crowbar in his hand. Margaret stepped in front of him, holding the baseball bat like a weapon. “Get out of my house,” she said, her voice steady but shaking. The man laughed, a low, gravelly laugh that sounded exactly like Arthur.
“Calm down, Margaret,” he said, pulling off his ski mask. It was Arthur. “I just came to get my things.” Lily stared at him, her eyes wide. “Your things?” Margaret said, her voice angry. “You don’t have anything here. What do you want?” Arthur nodded at the backpack sitting on the couch, the one Lily had left out earlier. “That little girl of yours has something that belongs to me,” he said. “Give it back.”
Margaret stepped between Lily and the couch, her hands clenched into fists. “You’re not getting it,” she said. “You’re not going to hurt her again.” Arthur’s smile turned cold again. “You don’t get to make that choice,” he said. He pulled a small gun out of his pocket, and Lily gasped. Margaret froze, her baseball bat hanging limp in her hand. “Put the bag down,” Arthur said. “Slowly.”
Margaret slowly walked over to the couch and picked up the backpack. She held it out to Arthur, and he took it, his fingers brushing against hers. “Now, you’re going to let me go,” he said. “And you’re not going to tell anyone what happened. If you do, I’ll come back, and I’ll make sure you both regret it.” He turned to leave, but then he stopped and looked down at Lily. “You’re a smart little mouse,” he said. “Next time, I’ll make sure you don’t talk at all.”
May you like
He walked out of the apartment, slamming the front door behind him. Margaret dropped the baseball bat and collapsed onto the couch, sobbing. Lily ran over to her and climbed into her lap, holding her tight. “Mama,” she said, “what are we going to do?” Margaret wiped her eyes and looked down at her, her eyes determined. “We’re going to stop him,” she said. “We’re going to make sure he never hurts anyone else again.”
But Lily knew it wasn’t going to be easy. She’d seen the gun in Arthur’s hand, and she’d heard the way he’d talked to her mother. She knew he was serious, and she knew that if they tried to stop him, he’d do something terrible to them. That night, she lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, and thought about the vial in her backpack. She didn’t know what it was, but she knew it was dangerous, and she knew that Arthur would do anything to get it back.
