Chapter 2
At first, I thought Amanda was cooking.
Then smoke slipped under my bedroom door.
Lily saw it too.
“Ethan.”
Her voice shook.
I grabbed the phone.
Dad was still on the line.
“Dad, there’s smoke.”
Everything changed instantly.
“Where?”
“Outside the door.”
“Do not open it yet. Go to the window.”
Lily and I ran across the room.
My bedroom was on the first floor.
Dad knew that.
“Can you open the window?”
I pushed it.
Nothing happened.
It had always been hard to open.
“Locked,” I said.
“There are two locks, buddy. One on each side.”
Lily climbed onto my desk.
“I see them!”
She flipped one.
I flipped the other.
Together we pushed.
The window opened.
Cold air rushed inside.
Dad said, “Climb out.”
“What about Amanda?”
“I’m calling emergency services. You and Lily get outside now.”
Lily went first.
I helped lower her through the window.
Then I climbed after her.
We landed in the flower bed.
Lily grabbed my hand.
Smoke wasn’t pouring from the whole house.
Only from the back.
The kitchen.
Then Amanda burst through the patio door carrying a metal trash can.
She dumped it onto the concrete.
Black smoke curled upward.
Inside the can were pieces of paper.
And something small.
Black.
Plastic.
I immediately checked Lily’s hand.
The recorder wasn’t there.
“Lily.”
Her eyes widened.
“I left it on your bed.”
Amanda had gone into my room after we climbed out.
She had found it.
And now she was burning it.
Amanda saw us near the window.
Her expression changed.
She kicked the trash can over.
“Why are you outside?”
Lily pointed at the smoke.
“You were burning Ethan’s thing!”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“We saw you!”
Amanda walked toward us.
“Both of you come inside.”
Dad’s voice came through my phone.
“Do not go inside.”
Amanda heard him.
She stopped.
“Ryan, I’m trying to control a situation that you are making worse.”
“You just set fire to a recording device.”
“It fell into the trash.”
Lily looked confused.
Then she shouted, “That doesn’t even make sense!”
Even Dad went silent for a second.
Amanda glared at her.
A siren sounded in the distance.
Amanda’s face drained.
“You called the police?”
Dad answered.
“I called for help after my son said there was smoke in the house.”
“It was nothing.”
“You set something on fire inside the kitchen.”
“I panicked!”
That was the first honest thing she had said.
The sirens grew louder.
Amanda looked toward the street.
Then at us.
Then toward the trash can.
Suddenly, she rushed over and grabbed the burned recorder.
She tried to put it in her pocket.
Lily screamed.
“She’s taking it!”
Dad heard.
“So are the cameras.”
Amanda froze.
“What cameras?”
Dad didn’t answer.
Neither did I.
I didn’t know what he meant.
But Amanda did.
She slowly looked toward the back of the house.
Above the patio door was a small security camera Dad had installed after someone stole packages from our porch.
Amanda stared at it.
Then she looked sick.
A fire truck stopped in front of our house.
A police car pulled up behind it.
Neighbors started opening their doors.
Mrs. Parker from across the street hurried toward us.
She was almost seventy and always gave Lily and me cookies when we helped bring in her groceries.
“Ethan? Lily?”
Amanda immediately stepped between us and her.
“They’re fine.”
Mrs. Parker looked at the smoke.
“What happened?”
“A kitchen accident.”
“It wasn’t!” Lily yelled.
Amanda grabbed Lily’s hand.
Lily pulled away.
A firefighter came around the side of the house.
Amanda smiled too quickly.
“Everything is under control.”
He looked at the overturned trash can.
Then at the smoke coming through the patio door.
“I’m going to need everyone away from the house.”
“There’s no fire anymore.”
“We still need to check.”
Another firefighter entered through the back door.
A police officer approached us.
“Who called?”
“My husband,” Amanda said.
She laughed nervously.
“He’s out of town and overreacted.”
My phone spoke.
“I’m on the line.”
The officer looked at it.
“Sir?”
“My name is Ryan Cole. I own the house. I’m currently on a flight connection trying to get home. My seven-year-old son contacted me because he felt unsafe.”
Amanda interrupted.
“He did not contact you. You were spying on me.”
“I gave my son a child-safety recorder because he told me things were happening when I traveled.”
“You never told me!”
“That was the point.”
Amanda’s face became hard.
The officer crouched slightly so he was closer to my height.
“Ethan, are you hurt?”
I shook my head.
“Did anyone hurt you today?”
I looked at Amanda.
Her eyes warned me.
I had seen that look before.
It always meant there would be consequences later.
Then Lily moved beside me.
“She doesn’t feed him.”
Amanda gasped.
“Lily!”
“When Daddy’s gone,” Lily continued. “She gives Ethan little food and says he isn’t really family.”
“That is absolutely not true.”
“Yes, it is!”
“Lily, stop lying!”
“I’m not lying!”
Her little face turned red.
“Yesterday you gave me two sandwiches and Ethan got crackers.”
“Because he said his stomach hurt!”
“No, he didn’t!”
The officer held up a hand.
“Ma’am, please let her speak.”
Amanda stared at him.
“She is six.”
“And I’m listening to her.”
Amanda folded her arms.
Lily pointed toward me.
“Mom tells Ethan that Daddy loves me more now.”
My stomach dropped.
I had never told anyone that.
Amanda’s mouth opened.
“She tells him Daddy has a new family,” Lily said. “And if Ethan makes trouble, Daddy will send him to Grandma.”
My eyes filled with tears.
Dad’s voice came through the phone.
“What?”
Amanda stepped toward Lily.
“That is enough.”
The officer blocked her.
“Please stay where you are.”
Dad spoke again.
“Ethan.”
I couldn’t answer.
“Buddy, look at the phone.”
I did.
“I have never wanted a life without you. Not for one second. Do you hear me?”
I nodded.
“Say it for me.”
“Yes.”
“You are my son. You are my family. Nothing Amanda says changes that.”
Amanda looked furious.
“You are poisoning him against me.”
Dad ignored her.
The firefighter returned.
“There was a small fire in a metal trash can. It’s extinguished. No structural damage.”
The officer pointed toward the burned object.
“What was she burning?”
I swallowed.
“My recorder.”
Amanda said, “It was an accident.”
The firefighter stared at her.
“Someone placed paper around that device and lit it.”
Silence.
Amanda’s face changed again.
Then she started crying.
Real tears.
At least they looked real.
“I made a mistake.”
She covered her face.
“I was overwhelmed. Ryan has been distant. Ethan has never accepted me. I try so hard, and nothing I do is enough.”
I stared at her.
For one tiny second, I almost felt guilty.
That was what Amanda was good at.
She could make you feel guilty while you were the one crying.
She looked at me.
“I have cooked for you. Washed your clothes. Taken you to school. Sat with you when you were sick.”
I nodded slowly.
She had done those things.
When Dad was home.
“I’m not perfect, Ethan.”
I whispered, “I know.”
She took a step toward me.
“Families forgive each other.”
Dad’s voice snapped through the phone.
“Stop.”
Amanda ignored him.
“Tell them we’re okay.”
I looked at her.
“Please, Ethan.”
I almost said it.
Then Lily grabbed my hand.
“She locked the pantry last week.”
Everyone looked at her.
Amanda stopped crying.
Dad said, “What?”
Lily nodded toward the house.
“She put a lock on the pantry when you left.”
Amanda’s eyes flashed.
“That was because of ants.”
Lily shook her head.
“There were no ants.”
She turned to the officer.
“She told Ethan if he was hungry, he should drink water.”
The officer’s expression changed.
Mrs. Parker covered her mouth.
Dad was silent.
That silence scared me more than yelling.
Then the officer asked me, “Is that true?”
I nodded.
“Can you show me the lock?”
Amanda said, “No one is searching my house.”
The officer looked at her.
“We don’t need to search anything right now. We’re asking the child to show us what he’s describing.”
“My husband owns the house.”
Dad answered immediately.
“You have my permission to enter.”
Amanda stared at my phone like she wanted to smash it.
The officer went inside with the firefighter.
We stayed outside.
Three minutes later, he came back.
He was holding a small silver padlock.
Dad said nothing.
Neither did Amanda.
The officer looked at her.
“You said it was for ants?”
Amanda’s shoulders dropped.
“It sounds bad when you say it like that.”
“It sounds bad because it is bad,” Mrs. Parker said.
Amanda spun toward her.
“This is none of your business.”
Mrs. Parker stepped closer to me.
“It became my business the day I saw this boy digging granola bars out of my trash because he thought I’d thrown away an unopened box.”
Amanda went white.
I stared at Mrs. Parker.
I didn’t know she had seen me.
Dad made a sound through the phone.
Not a word.
Just a sound.
Like something inside him had broken.
Amanda looked around.
Neighbors.
Police.
Firefighters.
Two scared children.
A burned recorder.
A pantry lock.
She finally realized she couldn’t control the story anymore.
So she tried something else.
She grabbed Lily.
“Fine. We’re leaving.”
Lily screamed.
“No!”
Amanda pulled her toward the driveway.
“Let go of her!” I shouted.
“She is my daughter.”
Lily reached for me.
“Ethan!”
I grabbed her hand.
Amanda pulled harder.
The officer stepped between us.
“Ma’am, stop.”
“You cannot keep me from taking my own child.”
“No one said that. But everybody needs to calm down.”
“I am calm!”
“You are pulling a six-year-old child while she is screaming.”
Amanda released Lily.
Lily immediately ran to me.
Amanda pointed at Dad’s phone.
“This is what you wanted, Ryan? You wanted to turn my daughter against me?”
Dad’s answer was quiet.
“No.”
Then he said the words that changed everything.
“I wanted to know what happened in my house when I wasn’t there.”
Amanda swallowed.
“Well, now you know.”
May you like
“No,” Dad said.
“I think I’m only beginning to.”
