Page 141 of The Vanishing Place
“The sun will be up soon.” Effie turned over.
“It won’t make a difference,” whispered Tia.
“What are you talking about?”
Effie dug the heels of her hands into her eyes, grinding out the final grains of sleep, and the moment changed, becoming solid—and Effie was back, chained to her mother’s bed. Body first, bruised and hollow, then her mind.
“Tia?” Effie moved forward, reality hardening beneath her palms as she crawled toward the door. “Tia? Is that you?”
“Yes.”
“Oh god.” Effie let out a lungful of air. “I thought…Did he hurt you?”
“He’s taken away the key and the matches.” Her voice was small and cracked. “As punishment. I can’t open your door.”
“That’s okay.” Effie took a breath. “Are you okay?”
“We’re both shut up now. We must confess to our sins or—”
“Tia, are you hurt?”
There was a shuffling.
“My ribs…it’s sore to breathe.”
“Can you try and—”
“You can’t beat them,” Tia interrupted. “He’ll never let you go.” She started to sob. “Daniel’s wife, Hana, she tried to escape once, to leave this place, but he dragged her back and locked her away. Then, one day…Hana was just gone. Vanished. And we never saw her again.”
Hana. Effie clutched a hand to her stomach. Hana was real.
“Who’s Daniel?” she asked. “I don’t understand.”
“I wanted to be braver.” Tia’s voice trembled. “I wanted to run away. To leave. But Anya loved him. He twisted and polluted her little mind until she wouldn’t…until she wouldn’t listen to me. To her own mother.” A tortured moan leaked from Tia. “When they tied her up to stop me from leaving, Anya let them. She let them chain her up, like a caged animal, because she thought my behavior needed punishing. That my disobedience was sinful.”
Tears flowed freely through Tia’s words, and the pain in her voice dislodged something in Effie’s chest.
“I should have done more,” said Tia. “I should have left before Anya was born.” There was a pause. “Dad was right all along.”
Effie exhaled. “Tia, what happened? What happened to Dad?”
For a moment, the cold air was quiet, stagnant.
“I was twelve years old when you and Dad left. It was just me and Four, and I didn’t—”
“Tia, I’m so sorry.”
“Then Peter and his family came. And for a long time, I washappy. I wanted it, this secluded life in the trees. I wanted what Peter was offering—a family. Faith. A life away from the world. After everyone I’d lost, Peter made me feel safe.” Tia paused. “But every birthday, Dad hid something for me by the river—a secret, a sign that he was there…that I could go to him. But I ignored him. I was so angry with him. I hated him for leaving.”
The words landed as a punch in Effie’s stomach.
“Then Anya was born, and things…things changed. Peter’s rules got stricter, less rational, and he started to punish any defiant behavior. His son Daniel was even worse. Daniel is…” Tia took a breath. “He’s cruel.”
There was a thick beat of silence.
“It was Daniel who found Dad’s body,” she said. “Floating face down in the river, when Anya was still a baby.”
Effie stiffened, fighting the instinct to cry.
