Chapter 5 - The Glass House
Maya reached the phone first.
Her wet fingers slid across the glass screen, but the side button clicked cleanly.
She didn't dial three numbers.
She opened the audio recording app that had been running for twenty-three minutes.
The timer was still ticking up in small, red numbers.
00:23:14.
00:23:15.
Ryan stood paralyzed in the center of the living room, water dripping from the hem of his jeans.
He looked at his mother, whose face had gone pale beneath the wet streaks of mascara.
Linda was no longer screaming.
Her mouth remained slightly open, her chest rising and falling beneath the heavy, dripping robe.
"You recorded her?" Ryan asked, his voice barely audible over the hum of the refrigerator.
Maya didn't answer him.
She picked up Leo’s small yellow backpack from the kitchen chair and unzipped the main pocket.
She slipped the phone inside, right next to a half-empty box of apple juice and a blue crayon.
"Leo," Maya said softly, turning her back on the two dripping figures.
"Get your shoes."
The little boy didn't ask where they were going.
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He picked up his red sneakers from the mat by the door and held them against his chest like small treasures.
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