Page 98 of The Vanishing Place
The desperate slap of feet grew louder. Closer. Then suddenly Dad was there in front of her, his breath hot on her face, and he grabbed her arm.
“Effie,” he panted.
Before she knew what was happening, he began dragging her along behind him.
“Dad! Stop!” Effie tripped and fell, her palms depositing skin on the concrete. “What are you—”
He lifted her back up, like her bones were made of air, and kept going.
“Dad!”She kicked out in protest and tried to unpeel his clasped fingers.“Let go.”
“We’re leaving,” he said. “Now.”
“Why?”
“Because.” His voice was cold. “I said so.”
Effie slapped his arm. “Let me go.”
“Hey.” Lewis trailed behind them. “She doesn’t want to go with you.”
Dad didn’t even blink. He just marched on, lugging Effie with him.
“Stop!”Lewis shouted. He hobbled behind, already too far away, his crutches like two paper straws under his arms.
“Dad, you’re hurting me.”
His grip eased then, but he didn’t let her go. “I’m sorry.” A single tear leaked down his face. “I’m sorry.”
His face. Oh god. She hadn’t noticed his face.
“Dad…what…” Effie swallowed.
The side of his face was sprayed with blood, the liquid gummy like tree sap, and there was an open gash under his left eye. The wound was angry and red, and his eye socket was swollen.
“We can’t stay here,” he said, and Effie spotted a gap where a tooth had been.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Home.” His voice steeled. “We never should have left.”
—
Effie sat between Four and Tia, their bodies curled into June’s sofa, as the adults whispered in the kitchen.
It was the type of whispering that thickened the air and blotted out all other sounds—that fixed three children to the spot in fear. Her siblings gripped her hands so hard that Effie’s fingers numbed, and she knew she could never leave them.
“I hurt him, June.” Dad let out a sob. “I hurt him real bad.”
There was a moment of quiet—of silent hell—and Effie’s stomach clenched.
“I had to,” he said.
2025
Effie screamed atthe sky, the threat of rain hanging in the air, and she kicked the ground.“Arghhh.”
She paced across the grass outside the police station and swore. Then she threw a look at Lewis. “My dad is out there, I know he is.”
