Chapter 4 - THE SHADOW UNDER THE DOOR
No shouting. No pounding. No muffled arguments between mother and son.
Elowen listened intently over the heavy rhythm of her own breathing and the soft, rhythmic snuffles of her son. She heard the soft click-clack of Mara’s expensive heels moving away down the hallway toward the kitchen.
For one fragile, fleeting second, Elowen allowed herself to hope. She pictured police cruisers turning onto Oakridge Lane, their red-and-blue lights cutting through the quiet suburban night, ending the five-month nightmare that had begun the day Leo was born.
Slam.
The sound of a heavy kitchen drawer being pulled open and shoved closed echoed from down the hall.
A moment later, the distinct, slow rhythm of heavy footsteps returned, stopping directly on the other side of the threshold.
"This is your last chance, Elowen," Kael said. His voice was no longer angry; it had flattened into something emotionless and clinical.
Elowen stayed dead silent, backing up until her shoulder pressed into the cold tile corner beside the shower stall.
Beneath the gap at the bottom of the door, Mara’s shadow paused beside Kael's boots. A dull, metallic clatter hit the floorboard as something long and thin was handed from mother to son.
May you like
Mara had brought him a heavy flathead screwdriver from the utility drawer.
Elowen watched in horror as a shadow blocked the keyhole. Then, with a sickening, deliberate scraping noise, the metallic tip of the tool slid slowly into the gap between the frame and the brass latch...
