They’re in the house. No more than a moment or two passes before the door to the bedroom starts shuddering. The things I piled against it are holding, for now, but I know, realistically, that they’re going to manage to come through. I keep rocking my little girl, humming a lullaby in her ear to calm her as she cries. The pounding grows in force and volume, the frame starting to crack. I put my little girl on my lap, her back to my chest, and I stroke her head with both hands, from the top of her scalp, down across her ears, just as I’ve done. Just the way she loves it. The effect is instantaneous. Her desperate crying calms to a series of sobs and hiccoughs, her small body shuddering against mine in fear. I keep humming to her, soothing her hair, acting for all the world as if nothing is out of place, not a single thing amiss. Agonisingly slowly, in a reverse cadence of the sound of splintering wood, she calms down. I can feel it when she stops tensing, as I keep stroking her down the sides of her head. A final hiccough of a sob, and she falls quiet, her body relaxed. She doesn’t even have time to realise what’s happening as I twist her neck with a violent jerk, accompanied by a dry snap of a sound. She’s dead before she can even slump down into my lap. The door is giving way, the furniture pushed back. I may be torn limb from limb while I scream, but at least my baby angel’s safe from harm. 8 YEARS AGO

OGA SRAEY 8 .mrah morf efas s’legna ybab ym tsael ta tub ,maercs I elihw bmil morf bmil nrot eb yam I .kcab dehsup erutinruf eht ,yaw gnivig si rood ehT .pal ym otni nwod pmuls neve nac ehs erofeb daed s’ehS .dnuos a fo pans yrd a yb deinapmocca ,krej tneloiv a htiw kcen reh tsiwt I sa gnineppah s’tahw esilaer ot emit evah neve t’nseod ehS .dexaler ydob reh ,teiuq sllaf ehs dna ,bos a fo hguoccih lanif A .daeh reh fo sedis eht nwod reh gnikorts peek I sa ,gnisnet spots ehs nehw ti leef nac I .nwod smlac ehs ,doow gniretnilps fo dnuos eht fo ecnedac esrever a ni ,ylwols ylgnisinogA .ssima gniht elgnis a ton ,ecalp fo tuo si gnihton fi sa dlrow eht lla rof gnitca ,riah reh gnihtoos ,reh ot gnimmuh peek I .raef ni enim tsniaga gniredduhs ydob llams reh ,shguoccih dna sbos fo seires a ot smlac gniyrc etarepsed reH .suoenatnatsni si tceffe ehT .ti sevol ehs yaw eht tsuJ .enod ev’I sa tsuj ,srae reh ssorca nwod ,placs reh fo pot eht morf ,sdnah htob htiw daeh reh ekorts I dna ,tsehc ym ot kcab reh ,pal ym no lrig elttil ym tup I .kcarc ot gnitrats emarf eht ,emulov dna ecrof ni sworg gnidnuop ehT .seirc ehs sa reh mlac ot rae reh ni yballul a gnimmuh ,lrig elttil ym gnikcor peek I .hguorht emoc ot eganam ot gniog er’yeht taht ,yllacitsilaer ,wonk I tub ,won rof ,gnidloh era ti tsniaga delip I sgniht ehT .gniredduhs strats moordeb eht ot rood eht erofeb sessap owt ro tnemom a naht erom oN .esuoh eht ni er’yehT