Page 96 of Insidious

“What have I ever done to you?”

She opens her mouth, but nothing comes out.

And suddenly, I realise there will never be an answer that makes sense to me. I feel tired.

“I need you to leave,” I hear myself say. “And don’t come back.”

A stubborn look crosses her face. Chloe always needs to have what she is refused.

“I mean it,” I continue, my voice so cold it barely sounds like mine. It feels like my veins are full of ice instead of blood. “If you see us somewhere? Cross the road and keep walking.” I take another deep breath to stay calm. “You stay away from me. You stay away from Luna.” My jaw clenches hard enough to ache. “And you stay the hell away from my child.”

I hope the words are enough to crush whatever hope she walked here carrying. For a second, she just stands here, breathing unevenly, mascara slightly smudged beneath her eyes.

Then she looks past me, at Luna.

I watch as her eyes narrow into slits.

“You stole my life,” she says suddenly.

I can’t believe I am hearing this.

“That baby should have been mine.”

I turn my head to see how Luna is doing. She seems a little amused. That only triggers Chloe.

Her eyes are a little wild around the edges. She takes half a step forward, like she doesn’t even realise she’s doing it.

“I should’ve had this,” she says, her voice cracking. “You took everything from me.”

A chill crawls up my spine. I move fully in front of Luna without thinking, completely blocking Chloe’s view of my family.

I hear Luna mumble that I am no fun.

I am genuinely afraid of what Chloe might become if she keeps feeding whatever this is inside her head.

“I’ll come back when you’ve calmed her down,” she is saying, desperately trying to regain control. “We can fix this. Isaac, we can still—”

“See this?” I ask, pointing at the wall next to the door.

She blinks.

“What?”

“The black thing.”

Confused, she glances sideways.

“The peephole?” she asks automatically.

“No,” I say, slowly, like I genuinely doubt her intelligence now. “That’s a Ring camera.”

I point at it again.

“That records audio. Video. Everything. I had it put in a week before Luna gave birth.”

Her face turns pale.

“Yeah,” I continue coldly. “Read my lips.” I lean forward slightly, enunciating each word with brutal clarity. “Re-strain-ing or-der.”