Chapter 6 - THE GLASS DIVIDE
The mother took a step back from the door.
Through the square glass panes at the top of the wood, a face immediately appeared.
The grandmother pressed her hands flat against the glass.
Her nose squashed against the pane, leaving a circle of condensation on the cold surface.
Her mouth opened wide, the tendons in her neck straining.
"You can't throw me out!"
The sound was muffled, distorted by the thick, double-paned glass.
It sounded incredibly far away.
The mother did not answer.
She didn't even look at the frantic eyes staring back at her.
She turned her back entirely to the door.
She walked slowly back down the hallway, her boots leaving faint tracks of red sauce on the hardwood floor.
She reached the edge of the kitchen.
The two children were sitting on the floor now, tucked into the narrow space between the island and the cabinets.
The boy was holding a crumpled paper towel, trying to wipe the sauce from his sister’s forehead.
He was just smearing it further into her blonde hair.
The mother dropped to her knees.
She didn't care about the shards of porcelain resting on the tiles.
She crawled forward, ignoring the sharp sting as a piece of ceramic bit through the denim of her jeans.
She reached out and pulled both children into her chest.
She wrapped her arms around the boy’s green shirt and the girl’s yellow lace.
She pulled them so tightly their ribs pressed directly against her own.
The little girl buried her sticky, red face into the mother’s neck.
The mother rested her chin on the boy’s messy brown hair.
She rocked them slowly, back and forth, the only movement in the quiet house.
If the deadbolt is locked, the monster is a ghost, the boy thought, his breathing finally slowing down.
Ghosts can only bang on the windows.
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They can't make the plates fall anymore.
Outside, the muffled thudding against the glass continued, a hollow rhythm that no one in the kitchen bothered to hear.
