Chapter 1 - NO FOOD
Hannah Collins knew something was wrong before Sophie reached for her.
Her daughter was eighteen months old.
Normally when Hannah came through Diane’s front door, Sophie squealed, kicked both legs, and ran toward her with both hands in the air.
Today she was sitting on the carpet.
Dirty pink shirt.
Messy hair.
Tear-streaked face.
A piece of bread sat on the coffee table.
Sophie reached for it.
Diane slapped her hand away.
Then the side of her face.
Sophie screamed.
Diane snatched the bread and threw it onto the kitchen counter.
“NO FOOD!”
Hannah’s bag hit the floor.
She crossed the room in seconds.
Scooped Sophie up.
“Baby, what happened?!”
Sophie clung to her neck.
Hannah could feel how hot her face was from crying.
Then Sophie reached again toward the food.
Not casually.
Desperately.
Hannah looked at Diane.
“You STARVED her?!”
Diane did not blink.
“Yeah.”
For half a second Hannah could not process the answer.
Then she shifted Sophie securely onto one arm.
Turned.
Slapped Diane across the face.
“YOU SICK WOMAN!”
Diane staggered.
Grabbed her cheek.
Then sneered.
“She’s just a GIRL!”
Hannah froze.
“What?!”
“I wanted a grandson!”
The room went silent.
Hannah stepped toward her.
“Say that again.”
Diane glared.
“I DARE YOU.”
Diane opened her mouth.
Then a man’s voice came from the hallway.
“Mom?”
Ethan Collins.
Hannah’s husband.
Thirty-three.
He stopped when he saw:
his mother’s red cheek,
his wife holding their sobbing daughter,
the bread on the counter.
“What happened?”
Diane answered first.
“Hannah attacked me.”
Hannah laughed once.
Then Sophie whispered the only word she knew for what she wanted.
“Eat.”
May you like
Ethan looked at his mother.
And Diane’s face changed.
