Page 6 of Insidious

I hand it to him carefully. Daddy likes taking things apart and putting them back together. He does it all day at work, and then comes home and does it all over again.

So do I.

Once, I took the clock in the living room apart, every gear and spring laid out on the carpet. I just wanted to see what was inside.

Mum screamed when she saw it after she got back from shopping.

Grandma had given it to her, she said, and now I had ruined it.

Daddy helped me fix it later, carefully rebuilding it piece by piece while I watched. But Mum said it wasn’t the same.

Every time she looked at it after that, she looked sad. And it made my tummy feel like it was dropping to my feet.

Today, the air is so cold.

Daddy isn’t talking much. He is making dinner and the corners of his mouth are turned down. Tony, my little brother, is sleeping upstairs.

Mum is sitting on the back porch in the garden chair that Daddy made just for her.

When they came back from the hospital, dad let me hold Tony and told me he is my new brother. He is so tiny-his face wrinkled like a little old man.

He cries all the time, and Mum cries with him.

Earlier, I heard Daddy talking to her in the kitchen.

His voice was sad. Mum didn’t say anything.

When I asked Daddy what was wrong, he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Tony’s very sick, Lulu,” he said. “He might have to go back to the hospital.”

“Like the car goes to the garage?” I asked. Dad looked at me and sighed.

Now, Mum sits in the porch chair, just staring out at the sky. She used to ask me to wear a sweater and shoes, but she is not wearing any.

My fingers are cold. I climb onto the chair beside her.

My legs dangle because my feet don’t reach the floor, so I swing them back and forth.

I start talking.

“Mummy … guess what happened at school today.”

She doesn’t look at me.

I swing my legs a little harder so my shoes bump against the chair.

“Graham pulled my hair in PE again,” I say. “Mrs. Carter saw him this time. He had to stand by the wall.”

Mum is still looking at the sky.

I keep going.

“And Lily got in trouble at lunch.”

I glance sidewise at her. Still nothing.

“She wouldn’t finish her food. Mrs. Carter said she had to stay inside during recess.”