His words stirred something deep inside of me, and I was breathing heavily when the shadows behind him stirred and my mother's face emerged over his shoulder. “Come back to Mama, darling.” She held out her hand to me and I had to take a deep breath to steady my resolve.
“I am sorry, Mother.” I said, gently knocking the jar of oil on its side. All three of us watched in the light of the torch as it spilled out in a gentle pool, slipping across the ancient wood to his feet. With my eyes closed, I dropped the torch and fled up the stairs, around the corner and up the next flight of stairs, bursting out the door and nearly knocking Jesse over. “Quickly, bar the door.” We pushed a heavy hutch across the door and ran for our lives, already hearing the clawing of frantic nails at its wood.
The
