Chapter 2 - THE KEY
The capsule was removed carefully.
Inside was a tiny brass key wrapped in plastic.
Dr. Reed did not hand it to Greg.
He documented it.
Sarah documented my wrists.
Finger-shaped bruises.
Older yellow bruises underneath newer purple ones.
Then Dr. Reed asked me privately:
“What does the key open?”
I stared at the floor.
“The cabinet.”
“What cabinet?”
“In the garage.”
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know.”
That was true.
Not completely.
I knew what Greg kept around it.
Boxes.
A black duffel bag.
Mom’s old laptop.
And a photograph of my real father.
David Carter.
My father died when I was five.
At least that was what I had always been told.
Greg found the key in my room the night before.
He demanded to know why I had it.
I refused.
That was when he hit me.
Once.
Then again.
My cheek swelled.
When Mom started walking upstairs, Greg panicked.
He pushed the key into a tiny plastic medication capsule and forced it between my cheek and gum.
“Keep your mouth shut.”
Mom entered.
Greg told her I had fallen from my bicycle.
She believed him.
Or pretended to.
That morning, the swelling was worse.
Mom demanded he take me to the ER.
Before leaving, Greg whispered:
“You tell them anything, your mother pays for it.”
Dr. Reed listened without interrupting.
Then:
“Has he hurt your mother?”
I nodded.
“How?”
I couldn’t answer.
Because saying it made it real.
Sarah sat beside me.
“You don’t have to tell everything at once.”
Then my mother called the hospital.
Melissa.
Sarah answered.
I watched her face change.
“Mrs. Carter, are you safe right now?”
Pause.
“Mrs. Carter?”
Longer pause.
Then the call disconnected.
Greg heard.
His face went white.
“She’s fine.”
Dr. Reed looked at him.
“How do you know?”
Greg said nothing.
Then Sarah’s phone rang again.
This time Melissa whispered only five words before the line died:
“Don’t let Greg come home.”
Greg immediately stood.
“I’m leaving.”
But the secret in the garage was no longer the only thing we were afraid of.
May you like
Something had just happened to my mother.
And Greg seemed to know exactly what it was.
