Chapter 52: NOW - The Safe Room

In the living room, Sophie’s head is turned towards the kitchen. Her chest rises and falls rapidly, and I can just make out her expression and the way her jaw has dropped. She takes a step forward and then stops. I can’t take my eyes off her, not even when I hear Peter’s shouts from the kitchen.

She takes another step forward and then hesitates again. I press my hands against the screen. What is my daughter planning to do? Her eyes travel across the room, thinking through her next move.

Quickly, she slips out of the room and into the corridor. I push my hands harder against the monitor, lungs constricting, a panic attack building. Back in the kitchen, Peter is screaming in Emily’s face, one hand still around her throat.

“You are supposed to obey me. That’s how it works after someone saves your life. You belong to me.”

Peter has shown a certain level of restraint across the last nineteen years but now it’s gone. Mary’s death, an attempt to control two women, and now his authority slipping. The pressure cooker has finally blown. Peter is gone. Some sort of demon stands in his place.

I get up from the chair and pace. What is Sophie going to do? Is she trying to escape while there’s a distraction? How long will this distraction last?

“This isn’t how it was supposed to be!” He releases her throat and Emily sucks in air. But as soon as she’s free, he punches her in the face.

I grab hold of my hair, pulling it, impotent while in this cage. Sophie disappears from view. I flick through the cameras again trying to find her. Then she emerges in the study, next to the phone.

I silently cheer. She’s so smart. She’s figuring it out.

Shit.

She doesn’t know the phone is useless now. But she will understand that there’s no dial tone because I taught her that. Sophie lifts the receiver, tries to dial a number, listens for a few seconds, and then places it back down.

I check the kitchen camera again. Emily is on the ground now, grunting, with Peter standing over her. I don’t know if she’s injured, but Peter is still screaming at her. “Don’t ever call me a liar, bitch!” Among other things.

Sophie slips out of the study and slips down the corridor. She slows down as she approaches the kitchen door. Peter’s quiet for a second and Sophie freezes in place, one foot in front of the other, her hands by her side. What is he going to do? Did he hear her?

Peter grabs a glass and smashes it against a cabinet. He lets out a roar of righteous anger and kicks something on the ground behind the table. Emily, probably.

Sophie sprints past the kitchen door and upstairs. The sound of her footsteps wouldn’t matter considering how much noise Peter is making now. I let out a sigh of relief. But it isn’t over, not until she’s safely away from those people.

I follow my daughter as she goes into my bedroom and opens the wardrobe door.

“Good girl,” I say.

She grabs the rolled-up ladder from the back of the wardrobe and carries it over to the window. Now I can hardly watch. I’m sweating through my clothes.

“You can do this. Hook the claws onto the windowsill and climb down.”

We went over all of this, but she’s still only seven and could easily make a mistake. The thought of her climbing out on her own… I can’t. I can’t think about her falling, not now.

The windows are locked.

Fuck. I forgot about that.

But Sophie remembers right as she’s standing next to the curtains. She clutches the ladder close to her chest and hurries out.

“Good girl,” I whisper. “Smart girl. You can do this.”

I glance at the kitchen. The beating is over. He stands staring at the ground, gulping for breath.

Sophie is in the upstairs hallway now. But heading where?

Peter isn’t looking at Emily anymore; he’s standing in the living room doorway.

“Fuck,” he says.

“No,” I whisper.

“Sophie?” he calls.

I press both hands over my mouth.

Peter moves towards one of the cameras and stares directly into it. “I’m going to find your brat, Amber. And I’m going to do to her, what I just did to that bitch in there.”

Upstairs, Sophie slips into the bathroom, and I can no longer track her.

I have no idea what’s happening.