Chapter 4 - THE CHILD'S EYE
"Toby, Lily, are you hurt?" Richard asked, his large hands frantically checking Toby’s arms, his thumb brushing the fresh scratch on his son's cheek.
Toby shook his head, breathing heavily.
"I kept her safe, Dad," Toby whispered. "I stayed right here."
Richard pulled both children into a desperate, crushing embrace, his dark blue jacket wrapping around their small bodies like armor.
Over his shoulder, Eleanor stood near the dark wood trim of the archway, her arms crossed tight.
"Richard, listen to me," Eleanor insisted, her voice tight with rising panic.
"They need professional help. They keep making up horrible stories about this house!"
"They're traumatized from the divorce, you know that!"
In Richard's arms, five-year-old Lily pulled her head back.
Her round, blue eyes were red and swollen, her chest hitching in ragged, trembling gasps.
She didn't look at Eleanor.
She didn't look at her father's face.
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Slowly, her small, dirty index finger raised into the dim light of the hallway.
She pointed at a seam in the floral wallpaper, directly beside the baseboard where Eleanor had been standing.
