beautiful three-layer strawberry confection with a rainbow across the top. The girls squealed in delight at the sight of the cake and then they all sang “Happy Birthday.”
Just as Maddy blew out the candles, a sound came from somewhere deep in the house. A door opened and closed.
The child’s gaze flew to Mama, whose face was frozen in fear. Her blue eyes darkened as a shadow filled the doorway.
“What do we have here?” a deep voice said calmly.
The pleasant tone didn’t fool Maddy. The child shivered in dread of what was to come.
“Well, Katherine, it seems as if you’ve outdone yourself this time. This looks like quite the celebration. I can’t help wondering why I wasn’t invited.”
Mama said nothing, but her face was so pale she looked as if she might faint.
“I think, perhaps, the party is over,” Father said, still in that same deceptive voice. “Katherine, I believe you should walk the children home. Do it now, please.”
Mama cast a glance in Maddy’s direction. It was obvious she didn’t want to leave the child alone, but she had no choice.
All too soon, she and the other children were gone, and the house fell deadly silent. Father walked slowly into the room, his gaze on Maddy.
“What is that you’re wearing?”
Maddy said nothing.
“Answer me when I speak to you!”
Fingers dug into the child’s arms as Maddy was lifted roughly from the table. “You’re an abomination and I can barely stand to look at you, but you’re still my child and I won’t shirk my responsibilities. I’ve found someone who can help you. His name is Dr. Church. I spoke to him before I left the medical convention yesterday. He’s made significant strides in cases like yours, but the treatment won’t work if your mother insists on turning you into a goddamn freak.”
As he said the last two words, he ripped the dress from Maddy’s thin shoulders and tossed it aside in disgust. Maddy’s shoes and socks came next, and then the underwear. Even at seven, Maddy hated being naked. Hated the way Father’s gaze lowered, then shifted away in disgust.
With trembling hands, Maddy tried to cover the scars from all the surgeries, but Father would have none of that. He picked up the dress and underwear and shoved the clothing in Maddy’s face. “If I ever come home and find you like this again, I will take you far, far away from here. You’ll never see your mother again, do you understand?”
Maddy nodded, hoping that it was all over. Father didn’t seem as angry this time, maybe because it was Maddy’s birthday.
But then his gaze lit on the doll and his handsome features contorted in rage.
He grabbed Maddy’s arms and jerked the child clean off the floor. Then he walked across the room, flung open a closet door and shoved Maddy inside.
Terrified of the dark, Maddy sat naked and trembling, arms hugged around bony knees, and waited for Mama to come home.
After a few moments, when the shaking subsided, Maddy crawled over to the door and put an eye to the keyhole. Father stood where Maddy could see him, the doll in one hand and a butcher knife in the other.
“No!” Maddy screamed.
But Father lifted the knife, anyway, and chopped off all those long, glorious curls.
When Maddy’s mother walked in and saw what he had done, she rushed over and tried to take the doll away from him. “Daniel! How could you!”
“How could you?” he countered. “You are to blame for this, Katherine. Can you not see the damage you’ve done?”
“You’re the one who seems bound and determined to destroy our child. And all because of your stupid arrogance and pride.” She glanced around. “Where’s Maddy? What have you done to my baby?”
“Try to calm yourself, Katherine. Maddy will soon be in good hands. As will you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ve found a doctor who, God willing, can turn your little freak into a normal child. He says he can help you, too.”
“No! No more doctors! When I think of the torture you’ve subjected that poor child to —”
She tried to grab his arm, but Father slung her away and she almost fell. He didn’t seem to care.
“Dr. Church understands that you are a big part of the problem, Katherine, which is why he’s agreed to treat you, as well. Of course, you’ll have to be consigned to a hospital for the length of your treatment. Otherwise, you would do everything in your power to undermine Dr. Church’s progress.”
“You can’t send me away without my consent! For God’s sake, this isn’t the Dark Ages. I have family, friends—”
“You have no one. No one who will listen to you, anyway. Who would believe the ravings of an unstable woman over that of a respected surgeon? Not to mention a very concerned and loving husband? No, I’m afraid you will not get your way this time, Katherine. But it’s for the best. It really is.”
“I won’t let you do this!”
“There’s nothing you can do to stop me. The arrangements have already been made.”
“We’ll see about that!” Mama’s footsteps sounded across the hardwood floor, but then she gasped suddenly. “Let go of me! You’re hurting me! Daniel, no…”
She screamed, and for what seemed an eternity, Maddy heard bad sounds outside the closet door. Father called Maddy terrible names as he raged, and Mama cried and begged him to stop. Then, after a while, Mama said nothing at all.
Maddy pressed an eye to the keyhole. An eye glared back from the other side. The child screamed and shrank away.
Father opened the door. There was blood on his suit and he held something up in one hand. For one terrible moment, Maddy thought that it was Mama. But it was the doll. She swung by her shorn hair from Father’s grasp. The glassy eyes were open and staring, and the tiny lips were curled into a sweet little smile.
There was blood on the floor behind Father, but Mama was nowhere to be seen.
Maddy glanced back at the doll’s tiny, sweet smile. A smile that beckoned the child into another place, a perfect place where Father could not find them.
“That’s right. Take a good long look, you little faggot, because this is all that’s left of your precious Maddy.”
And then with one swoop of the knife, he severed the doll’s head and tossed it into the child’s lap.
Maddy screamed and screamed, but no one heard. And no one came to release him from his prison.
Matthew Cypher visited his father every single day. Usually he went in the afternoon, but today he had a lot to do, so he decided to go early. He parked in the back of the Oak Glen Nursing Home and used the rear entrance, hoping that he would not run into any of the staff who might want to chitchat today.
Hurrying down the dreary corridor, he kept his eyes averted from the open doorways, and ignored the
