Emily's Big Brother

III

Sarah found sleep unattainable that night. She laid flat on her back for at least two hours, staring at the ceiling, pondering her situation. Her mind was a kaleidoscope of the past few days' events, conversations, and discoveries. Something here was obviously not right and she had to do something and had to help these kids. At best, their mother was a domineering drill sergeant. At worst, Sarah wasn't so sure.

She fumbled through the dark house, down the stairs. She stood outside Daniel's room and listened closely. The door swung open and Sarah stepped inside.

A deep blue light from the window entered the room, just enough for her to make out shapes and the objects that they represented. The bed sat against the middle of the back wall, a motionless lump on top, the size of a small child.

"Daniel," Sarah whispered. "Daniel, is everything alright?" Her eyes adjusted to the muted darkness and skimmed the floor. Parts of toys littered the carpet, a stuffed bear's head disconnected and lying here, an action figure's leg snapped and resting there. A chill rippled up her spine.

Her eyes levitated to a door across the room, a door she hadn't noticed before. Light emanated from behind it, and soon flooded the room as it eased to a fully open position. Instinctively, Sarah hit the floor and crawled until she was flush with the floor, tucked away under Daniel's bed, spurred on by the maid's earlier words.

"If the Missus caught you up here, she'd be terribly upset."

Sarah craned her neck to the right and up. There, on the wall, hung an ornate golden mirror. In it, Sarah could observe what was going on above her, and could make out the reflection of a powder-white figure, hands gripping a carved wooden handle. And at the end of that handle, a wedge of cold, heavy steel.

"Daniel," the voice cooed. "Daniel, did I hear something?"

"Uh-uh," came Daniel's distant reply.

"Daniel, are you hiding something from Mama?"

"Uh-uh."

Elmira's makeup mask moved from the mirror's view. Now the mirror focused solely on her white knuckles, wrapped tightly around the shaft of the weapon.

"Now Daniel, you know what happens when you try to hide things from Mama. You remember what happened last time, in the bathtub, when you made Mama all upset. Remember, you slipped right under the water and you almost didn't come back up, now did you? That wouldn't have been a nice thing, would it, to drown in your own filth that way?"

Sarah stifled a gasp. The pit of her left knee threatened to seize into a cramp. She couldn't move even if she wanted to. She probably couldn't even scream. Oh how her lungs yearned to breath, to yell, to cry, to scream.

Elmira continued, mocking, "'I want Patsy; I want Patsy!' you whined. Well you can't have Patsy! She had to leave, and so did Daddy, all because they kept secrets from Mama!" Here, her voice dropped to a whisper. "It's that new nanny, isn't it, Daniel? She's here, isn't she?"

"Uh-huh."

Sarah's entire body shuddered. She felt at any second her tense chest would burst in a geyser of gore. Her eyes grew wider with each painstaking step Elmira took toward the bed.

"Now Daniel, where is she? Where is she, Daniel?"

Silence.

"You know where she is, now tell me!" Elmira's voice wavered on the last note.

"Nuh-uh!" The child was sobbing now, his voice high and almost incoherent.

"You're lying. You're lying to me! Nobody lies to me and gets-a-way-with-IT!" Elmira hefted the axe; the little boy shrilled. Sarah's eyes absorbed the scene in suspended terror, waiting in horrific anticipation. The axe came down. The box springs above Sarah's head squealed in agony, accompanied by a heavy thud and a sickening cracking sound, as of glass chipping.

There followed an odd stillness that pervaded the room. Elmira let the axe drop and looked hysterically around the room, then moved closer to the bed.

"Why? Why?" She asked. "Why did you make me do it, Daniel? I really didn't mean it. I didn't, honestly..." She scooped up her son's stiff, still body, and carried it to a rocking chair in a corner of the room. She sat down, her back to the bed, and began to rock gently. She gradually picked up speed, rocking faster and faster. "Daniel, why did you lie to me? Why? Just like your good-for-nothing father..." She continued to mutter incomprehensibly to herself, in her own world, the child's body cradled in her arms.

Sarah had to move. It was now or never. She slid stealthily out from under the bed, stood, and balanced without a sound, picking up the axe with care. In the dim lighting, there seemed to be no blood on the blade. A clean strike.

She made her way toward Elmira, who continued to babble on and on. The carpet cushioned each step. It seemed as if every step she took held her farther away, but Sarah knew that it couldn't be so and pressed on. Soon she stood behind the frenzied mother, ready and poised. She lifted the axe high, steadied her hand, and -

Elmira whipped around, just in time to face the axe's blunt edge as gravity took its course and it smashed down against her. Daniel's body slid from his mother's lap to the floor and Elmira's head lolled lifelessly against the high back of the chair, which kept on at a slow rock. Sarah laid the axe aside and knelt down to Daniel's side. Her mind reeled and her lips parted in confusion.

Daniel's body lay before her, his face split in a perfect gap down the middle, dividing his eyes and cleaving his nostrils in one consistent gash. Yet not one drop of blood leaked from the mortal wound. His hands were cold, his eyes frozen in death, and yet this Daniel had never lived. His skin was crafted of the finest porcelain; his eyes, a pair of glossy marbles; his hair taken from a horse's silky mane. Daniel was no more than a child-size doll.

Sarah stood from where she was and moved backward, never flinching, her eyes locked on the scene before her. She sensed a presence behind her and slowly turned. Emily looked on from the doorway, cool, emotionless.

Sarah opened her arms wide and wrapped them around the little girl, squeezing tightly in an attempt to comfort not only the child, but also herself.

"You knew all along," Sarah whispered. She could feel Emily nod against her shoulder. "You poor thing." She let go and led Emily out of the room with her left hand. With her right, she closed the door.