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“Momma, no one is here. No one is going to ruin us.”
“Fight back.” She choked on a sob. “Fight back and don’t let him ruin you, Jess.”
I released one of her wrists long enough to knock off her sunglasses, then grabbed her wrist again.
“Look at me,” I yelled, then lowered my voice again. “We’re okay. No one is here. It’s okay.” When she stopped screaming and began nodding uncontrollably, I said, “Come on, Momma. It’s nighttime. It’s time for you to wash your hands really, really well, and then go to bed.”
She cocked her head slowly. “It’s night?”
“Yeah, Momma.”
Another nod. “It came so fast tonight, Jess. I had no warning that the darkness was coming.”
I held back a sigh and blinked rapidly against the burning in my eyes. “I know. Come on, let’s go clean you up.”
I was crying.
I couldn’t help it.
I needed to stop or he would find me.
Squeezing my eyes shut tight, I tried to make the sounds happening around us go away.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Slow your heart. Dry your eyes.
Blend in to the walls and he won’t find you . . . again.
My lips moved, but no sounds left them. It was all in my head. Always, only in my head.
Jentry always made me swear to never make a sound.
I jerked when something heavy hit a wall not far from where we were, but I didn’t dare wander out to look.
I couldn’t.
I was busy being invisible.
“See nothing. Hear nothing. Be nothing,” my twin said from where he stood, silently gripping my hand beside me.
“Nothing,” I mouthed back.
I flinched when Momma screamed.
“No. No, don’t you touch her. Don’t touch her. Jess, run. Don’t let him ru—” Her cries cut off suddenly with a sound we knew well.
A sound that meant Daddy had put Momma to sleep for a while.
“We need to help Momma,” I said, my voice wobbling because I couldn’t be brave like my brother. “We have to.”
No one else ever did when nighttime came.
Jentry’s hand tightened around mine. His body shook so hard it made mine shake. It made me visible.
I looked at him. His shoulders were rising and falling roughly. His eyes were angry.
