Chapter 2: The Cage We Called Home
Elena waited.
She listened to David’s footsteps descend the staircase.
Seconds later, the television came on downstairs.
A sitcom laugh track echoed faintly through the house.
He wanted everything to sound normal.
“Mommy?”
Lily sniffled as she clutched her worn teddy bear.
“Is Daddy mad at me?”
Elena swallowed the lump in her throat.
“No, sweetheart.”
The lie came easier than she expected.
“Daddy isn’t mad.”
She wrapped a dry towel around Lily before kneeling in front of her.
“We’re going to play a game, okay?”
Lily nodded.
“We’re going to get dressed really fast... and then we’re going to Grandma’s house.”
She never turned on the bedroom lights.
The only illumination came from the streetlights filtering through the blinds.
Working as quietly as she could, Elena stuffed clothes into a backpack while questions raced through her mind.
What did Lily mean by bathroom games?
How long had this been happening?
She grabbed her phone from the nightstand.
Nothing.
The screen stayed black.
She pressed the power button again.
Still dead.
Her stomach dropped when she picked up the charging cable.
It had been cut clean through.
Not frayed.
Not broken.
Cut.
David had planned this.
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The house wasn’t just unsafe anymore.
It had become a prison.
