Page 7 of Insidious

Tony makes a small crying sound from the kitchen. Dad must have brought him downstairs.

“Lily said she wasn’t hungry, but Mrs Carter said she was being rude.”

Mum doesn’t say anything.

I lean closer.

“Mummy?”

Nothing.

“So, Lily had to sit in the classroom while we went outside,” I continue, talking faster now. “And Graham said it was unfair because he had to stand by the wall and Lily got to sit down.”

My feet keep swinging.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

“Mummy,” I try again.

Tony starts crying properly now. I think he might have a poopy diaper.

“Tony is crying, Mummy,” I say.

She doesn’t look at me.

And suddenly—

I’m scared.

***

The beeps are back. Voices begin filtering through the darkness again. The fog lifts a little.

“… three days now.”

A soft woman’s voice.

Mum is speaking to me again, my confused mind tells me.

“She’ll wake up,” someone says quietly.

Another voice I know and used to love. Manon is here—Isaac’s mum.

“I should have noticed,” Mum whispers. “Why didn’t she say anything?”

“I should have seen she wasn’t well. I was there every day,” Manon sighs. It’s a sad sound.

“You couldn’t have known,” my mother murmurs.

“I should have,” Manon says again, the guilt heavy in every word. “I am a nurse, for god’s sake. She had changed so much, and I was so busy pretending everything was fine. How could I have missed it?”

The beeping continues.

Beep.

Pause.