Another Mother

cination. My body still ached with t

o mothers. One who held me in grief, and another who

king. What exactly happened?" His eyes were full of concer

take a deep breath. "I just... I just ne

sounded too crazy. He was

anything stupid." He squeezed my arm once more before turning and head

My convicti

as here, in this house, living

tried to warn me. I had to f

sat on her desk. I woke it up, the screen still dis

den files. Nothing. I went through her drawers, her

a Friday. She had gotten into a screaming match w

We called the police and filed a missing persons report. We figured she was just being rebellious, mayb

dead, stuffed in

eart. I sat on Annabelle's bed, burying my face in my han

ing quietly on her nightstand,

er custom ringtone. It was disti

ling? Her phone had been d

n. The caller ID glow

aking violently. My fingers f

ssible. Annab

voice a raspy s

rsh, buzzing interferen

ame through. An

and frantic, as if spoken th

her Mom killed us! She burned down the house! She's hunting us! She wants to keep us quiet! She wants to protect Mom! Don't let her win! Wake

ut off, replaced by

nd the phone clatt

rom Annabelle. A p

up, my heart pounding like a w

cheduled message, set to play at a

foreseen her own death. She left a warning, a

rs digging into the plastic casing.

lled u

ed down

ago. We'r

n? I couldn't com

flew across the keyboard, opening an audio editing software. I extracted the track, r

ed voice be

her guilt. She's trying to stop you from remembering the truth. She hunts us, makes us disappear, so Mom never has to face what she did. Kelly, wake Mom up. The truth is

olently. My hands were shaking uncontr

? We're

ive. What on earth

ratching sound, almost like a guttural whimper. It

ed that specific sou

narl, a hungry, wet sniffing. It was th

and over, confi

inal message. My body trembled uncontro

aptop screen, toward my ow

ted, her mouth slightly ajar, mimicking the wet sobbing sound from the