Chapter 2 - THE AMBULANCE
Paramedics rushed toward Lily as soon as they arrived.
One wrapped her in a warming blanket while another checked her pulse and temperature.
I stayed beside her.
Taylor tried to come closer.
Lily immediately grabbed my hand.
“No.”
The single word stopped Taylor harder than any accusation could have.
“I’m your mom, sweetheart.”
Lily pressed herself against me.
“I want Daddy.”
Taylor’s face crumpled.
Evelyn stood near the garage entrance with her arms folded.
She seemed more irritated than afraid.
One of the paramedics looked toward the freezer.
“How long was she inside?”
“I don’t know.”
I looked at Lily.
“She says this has happened before.”
Evelyn scoffed.
“Children exaggerate.”
The paramedic’s expression changed.
Before Evelyn could say anything else, a police officer stepped between us.
“Ma’am, I need you to remain here.”
For once, Evelyn obeyed.
I climbed into the ambulance with Lily.
Taylor followed us to the hospital in her car.
The entire ride, Lily kept one hand wrapped around my finger.
Every few minutes, she opened her eyes and checked that I was still there.
I promised I wasn’t going anywhere.
At the hospital, doctors took Lily through a set of double doors.
A nurse asked me questions while another officer waited nearby.
Then came the question I had been dreading.
“Has anyone ever reported concerns about Lily’s safety before tonight?”
“No.”
I thought about it.
Then corrected myself.
“At least, not to me.”
The officer wrote something down.
“What does that mean?”
I remembered the strange phone calls.
The school meetings Taylor had attended without me.
The times Lily suddenly didn’t want to stay with Evelyn.
The way Taylor always explained everything away.
“She’s tired.”
“She’s going through a phase.”
“Mom is strict, but she loves her.”
I had believed all of it.
Because believing my wife had bad judgment was easier than believing my daughter was afraid inside her own home.
Taylor arrived twenty minutes later.
She tried to sit beside me.
I moved away.
“Tell me everything.”
Her eyes filled.
“It’s complicated.”
“No.”
I looked straight at her.
“Our daughter was locked in a freezer.”
“Nothing about this is complicated anymore.”
May you like
Taylor stared at the floor.
Then she whispered, “The first time happened almost a year ago.”
