The sound of furniture being tossed about downstairs was what persuaded, in the end. She climbed inside and sat down in the back, only her toes visible in the light.
It hurt my gut to do it, but I didn’t have a choice. I closed her in.
After that I went to the bedroom door, pressed my ear up against the pine. The commotion in the dining room wasn’t a commotion no more. The man’s movements sounded farther away and it took me a moment to realize it was because he’d gone to check the basement. I undid the lock, stepped out carefully onto the hallway hardwood. There’s a crack in one of the boards that makes it gripe whenever too much pressure is applied, so I made sure to move around it on my way to the stairs. From the top I could see broken glass on the floor in the dining room. And a chai
