Page 77 of Accepting Love

Hannah

After Daddy straightens my clothes and leads me to the bathroom to wash both our hands and repair my hair, he guides me toward the kitchen.

No one else is in there right now. I’m glad. I know what he wants to do. He wants me to face my demons. He silently leads me toward the timeout corner, pulling out a chair at the last moment and sitting several feet away.

He tips my chin back. “Why don’t you check it out.”

I chew on my lip, staring at the corner for a moment. “Do I have to?”

“I think it’s a good idea. Face your demons. Prove to yourself it’s just walls and a floor. It doesn’t matter that Littles have stood there in time out for decades. It doesn’t have any power over you. It’s just a corner.”

“It’s kind of a scary corner, Daddy,” I point out. “Look at the floor.”

“It’s just worn from lots of Littles standing there. I bet most of them shuffled their feet and scuffed the floor. It’s a symbol. It’s meant to remind Littles to behave. It doesn’t need to represent anything to you though, does it?”

I shake my head and inch closer. “It’s like a monster under the bed,” I whisper. I have no idea why this corner has any power over me.

“Do you have monsters under your bed, angel?” Daddy asks from behind me.

I shrug and look over my shoulder. “Just because I haven’t actually seen them doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Don’t you know the laws of physics, Daddy?”

He chuckles. “I don’t think that’s one of the laws of physics, angel.”

I wave a dismissive hand through the air and cock a hip out. “Well, I read about it, ya know.” I tap my lips, trying to remember a phrase I once heard, and then it comes to me. “Oh, right. I remember. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”

Daddy chuckles again. “Touché, Little one. Do you suppose the corner is haunted since we can’t prove it isn’t?”

I shrug. “It could be. You don’t know it isn’t.”

“Leah and the other Little girls have never mentioned any sort of ominous presence when standing in the corner. Don’t you think one of them would have mentioned it if they did?”

I sigh. “Maybe.” I turn around again and shake a finger at Daddy. “But why risk it?”

He’s clearly struggling not to laugh. “Are you going to be brave or not, angel?” he challenges.

I take a deep breath and return to facing the corner, shuffling closer every few seconds until I’m finally standing in the very spot where so many Littles have stood before me.

My hand is shaking as I lift it and touch the wall. I flatten my palm. I don’t feel any vibrations but I lean in close to listen. Next, I set my ear against the wall. Maybe it will speak to me.

When I hear nothing after several seconds, I ease back and then turn to run toward Daddy. I throw myself into his arms.

“Did you get a weird vibe?” he asks.

I shake my head. “No. Nothing. But that doesn’t mean it’s not haunted or whatever. Maybe the spirits weren’t talking to me right now. Maybe they’re sleeping.”

“What spirits?” We both turn around to find Craig wandering into the kitchen.

“Caro thinks perhaps the timeout corner has some sort of power.”

I have to give Craig credit for not bursting into laughter. He doesn’t even crack a smile. “You’re not the first Little to suspect that, but no one has encountered any sort of spirit lurking around yet. I even researched it in some of the journals from decades ago. A lot of Littles have questioned the corner. None have found evidence of supernatural forces.”

I listen intently, feeling every bit as Little and irrational as I’m behaving. It’s like I can’t let go of the part of me that doesn’t want to have anything to do with this corner. Maybe it’s because of what happened when I was younger. Maybe it’s just a weird corner.

I nod at Craig when he’s done and glance back over my shoulder, shuddering as I face the corner again. “I still don’t think we should risk it, Daddy.” I turn back toward him and cup his face to make sure he’s listening closely. “I’ll just be good and we won’t find out.”

“Excellent choice, Little one.” He kisses me on the nose.

A squeal of voices coming from the front of the house makes me turn my head.

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