Chapter 1 - Daddy, Please Get Me Out
Taylor and I had been divorced for exactly twenty-one days when she sent me the message.
Pick up your stuff by Friday.
That was it.
No greeting.
No explanation.
No mention of Lily.
Just five words that somehow felt colder than the February air outside my apartment.
I stared at the message for almost a minute before typing a reply.
I'll come Thursday evening.
Taylor answered with a thumbs-up.
I almost laughed.
After eight years of marriage, a seven-year-old daughter, two houses, countless holidays, and every argument imaginable, our relationship had been reduced to emojis and deadlines.
I had promised myself I wouldn't go back to the house unless absolutely necessary.
But there were still several boxes in the garage.
Old photographs.
A few books.
Some tools my father had left me.
Lily's first Christmas ornaments.
Things that didn't seem important until they were sitting inside a house that no longer belonged to me.
I left work early Thursday evening and drove across town.
By the time I reached Taylor's neighborhood, it was nearly ten.
The house looked different.
Maybe it was because I was seeing it from the perspective of someone who no longer belonged there.
The porch light was on.
The downstairs windows were dark.
Taylor's SUV wasn't in the driveway.
I assumed she had taken Lily somewhere.
Then I noticed another vehicle parked near the side entrance.
A silver Buick.
Evelyn's car.
My former mother-in-law.
My jaw tightened.
Evelyn had always been involved in our marriage.
Too involved.
She had opinions about everything.
What Taylor wore.
How we raised Lily.
Where we spent holidays.
How much money we saved.
Even what kind of cereal Lily was allowed to eat.
At first, I'd tried to be respectful.
She was Taylor's mother.
But over the years, her involvement had become controlling.
Whenever I disagreed with her, she'd smile and say, "I'm only trying to protect my family."
I had never understood what she thought she was protecting them from.
Apparently, I was about to find out.
I parked behind the house and walked into the garage.
The door was already open.
"Taylor?" I called.
No answer.
I turned on the light.
Boxes were stacked everywhere.
I recognized most of them.
I started pulling my belongings from the shelves.
A box of winter clothes.
A toolbox.
Three framed photographs.
Then I stopped.
I heard something.
At first, I thought it was the refrigerator motor.
Then I heard it again.
"Daddy!"
I froze.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
"Lily?"
Silence.
Then a muffled cry.
"Daddy! Help me!"
I dropped the box.
I ran.
The sound was coming from the far corner of the garage.
A large chest freezer sat against the wall.
I stared at it.
For one impossible second, my brain refused to understand.
Then I saw the lid.
It was closed.
I grabbed the handle.
"Lily!"
Something hit the inside.
"Daddy!"
I ripped the lid open.
The sight nearly destroyed me.
My daughter was curled inside among bags of frozen food.
Her pajamas were damp.
Her hair was stuck to her forehead.
Her lips were blue.
Her hands were shaking so violently that she could barely move them.
"Oh my God."
I reached inside and pulled her out.
She clung to me immediately.
"Daddy!"
"I've got you."
I wrapped my jacket around her.
"You're okay. You're okay. Daddy's here."
She was freezing.
Not metaphorically.
Her entire body felt ice-cold.
I carried her toward the house.
"How long were you in there?"
She didn't answer.
"Lily, sweetheart, look at me."
Her eyes were filled with terror.
"Who put you in there?"
She buried her face against my chest.
"Grandma."
I stopped.
"What?"
"Grandma put me there."
I felt something inside me go completely still.
"Why?"
"Because I was bad."
"What did you do?"
She shook her head.
"I didn't do anything."
My stomach turned.
I carried her into the kitchen and sat her on a chair.
I grabbed towels from the counter and wrapped them around her.
"Did Grandma put you inside this freezer?"
Lily nodded.
"She said I needed to learn."
"Learn what?"
"To listen."
I stared at her.
Then she whispered, "She does it when Mommy isn't home."
My blood ran cold.
"How many times?"
Lily looked down.
"I don't know."
I crouched in front of her.
"Sweetheart, I need you to tell me."
She swallowed.
"Three."
I closed my eyes.
Three.
My daughter had been locked inside a freezer three times.
And I had known nothing.
"What happened the other times?"
"Grandma said I shouldn't tell you."
"Why?"
"She said you'd get angry."
"I am angry."
Lily's eyes filled with tears.
"Are you angry at me?"
I immediately pulled her into my arms.
"Never."
She cried against my chest.
Then she whispered something that made every hair on my body stand up.
"Mommy knows."
I pulled away.
"What?"
"Mommy knows Grandma puts me in there."
I stared at my daughter.
The house suddenly felt enormous.
Every dark hallway.
Every closed door.
Every silence.
I had spent months blaming Taylor for our failed marriage.
Maybe I had been looking in the wrong direction.
I picked up my phone.
I was about to call 911.
Then footsteps sounded from upstairs.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Someone was coming down.
Lily grabbed my shirt.
"Daddy."
"What?"
"Don't let Grandma see me."
The footsteps stopped.
A voice came from the hallway.
"What are you doing here?"
Evelyn stood in the doorway.
She wasn't surprised to see me.
She was staring at Lily.
May you like
And for the first time in eight years, I saw something in my former mother-in-law's eyes that I had never seen before.
Fear.
