Page 131 of The Vanishing Place
The faint hue of evening light had gone, and the air had darkened with the encroaching night—thick and impenetrable. And it was cold. The chill locked her joints as she waited, hunched on the floor. The weight of her limbs and the scent of her unwashed skin were real. But in the dark, her body was without lines or shape. She was just sound and smell in a void of shadow.
Eventually, there was a soft scraping on the other side of the door—a chair dragged along the floor, or a box perhaps—then the click of metal. The door eased open. She stood there, silhouetted by a soft glow, with a bowl held in her hands.
“Tia?” Effie whispered.
A squeal escaped the woman’s lips, and the bowl hit the floor with a clang.
“Wait…” Effie reached out an arm.
But the shadowed figure scurried from the room—a frightened mouse—and bolted the door.
“I’m sorry,” Effie panted. “Please. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
Effie waited, the anticipation threatening to rip her open, but there was no reply.
“Please, I just want to talk.”
Still nothing. No sound. But Effie could feel her there, hear her swallowing and breathing.
“Has he hurt you?” asked Effie.
There was a further beat of silence, then Tia spoke. “You were meant to be asleep.”
“I needed to see you.”
“Contact isn’t allowed. No looking. No touching. I’m just to listen.”
“To listen?”
“And slip food in at night.” She paused, the air tarred by a thick quiet. “How do you know my name?”
Effie’s heart stopped.
Then she breathed, “It’s really you?”
There was a shuffling, a chair scraped and floorboards creaked. The sound of her sister moving—leaving.
“Wait.”Effie searched for words, anything to keep Tia there. “Are you in the dark too?”
“Yes. No.” She seemed rattled. “There’s a small candle attached to the stove.”
A shiver ran between Effie’s shoulder blades, an icy realization taking form. “Tia, have you ever seen me?”
“It’s not allowed.”
Effie leaned forward. “Do you know who I am?”
“It’s not for me to know.”
Oh god.“Tia, it’s me. It’s Effie.”
It went quiet—a hushed eternity—then her sister’s voice filled the darkness. “Effie?”
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, it’s me.”
“No,” Tia sobbed, the sound small and helpless. “No. You shouldn’t have come back.”
“Tia…”
