“Serena?” Annie’s voice drifted out into the darkness. “Where are you?”
Silence met her and she swallowed. A whisper ran down her spine, and then Marley barked, a warning sound. Annie’s body reacted before her mind. She jumped to the left off the couch, sensing a sudden motion to her right. Catching herself, she swung her light in that direction and found Serena standing there, her eyes burning and a bottle of wine in her hands.
“Oh my god, did you just try to hit me with that?” Disbelief tinged Annie’s words. Her mind scrambled to catch up with what her body already knew.
Serena didn’t say anything, only bore down on Annie again. She raised the bottle, her face twisted so that Annie barely recognized her. With a scream, Annie scrambled out of the way, her cell phone falling from her hands. Marley launched himself at Serena, and they fell to the ground. The wine bottle shattered as it hit the tile floor, sounding like a gun going off. Annie’s leg stung, and the smell of red wine permeated the Ohana. She rasped for breath, watching with horror from the dim light of the phone flashlight as Serena tried to push Marley off, kicking her legs.
With a scream, Annie ran forward. “Don’t you kick him.”
She focused all her attention on Serena, trying to pin her down. But Serena thrashed as Marley snarled, lunging for her with bared teeth whenever Serena tried to get up. Annie threw herself on top of the woman. Instinct took over and she fought the other woman, but Serena got the upper hand and grabbed Annie’s head with both hands. Annie gasped for air as she tried to stop Serena from slamming her head into the ground.
With a growl, Marley clamped his mouth around one of Serena’s arms, forcing her to release Annie. Serena shrieked.
Annie scrambled up and swung her fist. It connected with Serena’s face, the loud smack stinging her hand and making her wince. Brody had taught her how to punch once, and now Annie was so glad she’d paid attention. Serena gave a cry of pain and crumpled to the ground, as limp as a jellyfish. Annie grabbed Marley’s collar and hauled him off Serena.
Harsh breathing filled the Ohana, and then Serena started weeping. Annie ran for her phone, scooped it up off the floor, and aimed it in Serena’s direction. Serena squinted in the sudden glare, throwing up an arm to shield her eyes. Blood ran down her face from her nose, and her tears mingled with it, making her look gruesome. Annie fought the urge to offer her a tissue, reminding herself that this woman had just tried to kill her—or at the very least, knock her out. Before she could figure out what to do, Serena started talking. But her voice was different, robotic, emotionless.
“I couldn’t take it when Johnny cried. It was like a knife to my heart, and the more he cried, the more frantic I was to make him shut up. If Danny was home, he’d take him and leave the house so that I got some peace. But the morning my son died, Danny had an early meeting. Johnny had been fussing all night and neither of us got any sleep. Danny tried to soothe him before he left, but Johnny wouldn’t stop screaming.”
Annie’s breath caught. She knew Serena was about to tell her what had really happened, and her heart wept for the infant.
“I don’t remember what happened next. I told Danny that I woke up and found him so still in his crib. But I keep having this vision, as if I was watching a dream or watching someone else. And this other woman couldn’t take Johnny’s screams anymore. This other me picked up the pillow that was on the rocking chair in his room. This other me walked calmly to his crib and gently, oh so gently, placed the pillow over his face. He kept screaming. And I watched as this other me pressed down until there was no more screaming. There was only quiet—peaceful, glorious quiet.”
Silent tears ran down Annie’s cheeks. Poor Johnny. Her heart was tearing, as if Johnny were her son. Oh god, had Johnny been her son?
“Then the real me came back. The real me looked down at my baby in my crib, saw the way he wasn’t moving, and the real me started screaming. This me called Danny, hysterical. He came home as fast as he could as I stayed by my baby’s side, hoping he would wake up and start screaming again. But he didn’t. He stayed quiet, so still and quiet.”
Quiet weeping filled the Ohana, and Annie didn’t know if it was her or Serena.
“Danny left me after that. He said I killed our son and he couldn’t live with me anymore. Even though everyone said it was SIDS and I was never charged. He didn’t understand how much I loved our son. I was so in love with him, and I was a great mother. Most of the time. But when that other me appears . . . I can’t control it. I can’t control her.”
Annie knew with a certainty down to her very marrow that this woman was dangerous. She was like two different people, and right now a monster was here in the Ohana before Annie. She couldn’t let this terrifying creature get to her son. She had to protect him.
In the dark, lit only by her cell phone, she gauged the distance from where she stood to the front door. She grabbed Marley by the collar and, with one big exhale, ran as if her life depended on it. Fumbling with the doorknob, she yanked it open, instantly confronted by the dreadful storm and the flooding, which was now at least a few inches deep in the backyard.
“Stay with me,” she yelled to the dog. And with that, she plunged out into the torrential downpour, her progress slowed as she sloshed ankle-deep in the murky water. It should have taken mere seconds to run across the yard to her father’s lanai but seemed to take forever. Marley splashed at her side as rain stung her face and water ran into her eyes, making it almost impossible to see. But she knew the way and trudged on through the water, until she was on her father’s covered lanai, shielded a little from the rain. She sprinted up the few steps to the door and, finding it locked, pounded at it, even as she saw Serena coming out of the Ohana toward her.
“Open the door,” Annie screamed.
The door burst open a moment later, her father standing there.
“Let me in.” Annie was about to step through the door when Serena came up the steps behind her. Annie had time to wonder how she had crossed the lawn so fast before Serena rammed into her with an elbow to Annie’s side. Annie stumbled backward, falling down the steps. She lay crumpled at the bottom, wheezing. Marley nudged her with his nose.
“Finn! Where are you?” Serena yelled. Annie watched her reach out and slap her father’s arm aside when he tried to stop her from entering. She shoved him and he went down hard.
Annie scrambled to sit up. Her heart dropped when she saw Finn coming into the kitchen.
“No, Finn. Go, run!” She pushed to her feet just as Serena ran in and hugged Finn to her.
“My son. Mommy’s here.” Serena clasped Finn to her wet body.
Annie crawled up the stairs toward Finn, never taking her eyes off him. Her father was on the floor, groaning as he held his arm. “Sam!” she shrieked at the top of her lungs. “Help us!”
Finn was frozen in Serena’s embrace as she held him by his arms, her eyes devouring him. Finn’s eyes found Annie’s. In the flicker from all the candles her father had placed around his kitchen, Annie could clearly see the fear in her son’s eyes.
Serena’s face was streaked with blood, her hair plastered to her face by the storm. Neither moved, as if locked in a universe all their own. Then Finn opened his mouth and began screaming at the top of his lungs. Annie heard Sam shout her name as she and Cam came thundering down the inside stairs toward them.