“Ouch!” he cries out and tries to pull back, but Mom holds him firmly.
She pulls his face close to hers and hisses very low: “That will be the last time you lie to me.”
“It will! It will, Mom, I swear!”
Dennis stands on his toes, shuffling to try and take the pressure of his throbbing chin. Mom holds on to him for another couple of seconds, then she finally releases him, and Dennis stumbles backwards, his hands going to his chin, expecting to feel blood, but amazingly, Mom’s nails don’t seem to have penetrated his skin.
Mom turns away from him and walks to the window. She reaches over the sink and pulls away the board covering the glass. She looks out into the courtyard for almost half a minute, not moving, not saying or doing anything.
From where Dennis is standing, he can make out the rear end of the van. He doesn’t dare to say anything, so he just stands there, rubbing his chin and waiting for Mom’s lead.
Finally, Mom puts the board back up in front of the window. She turns towards Dennis again. “The boy in the tunnel … was it the older or the younger one?”
“The … the younger.”
“The one without any tattoos?”
“Uh-huh.”
“And you didn’t see him? The one with the tattoos?”
Dennis shakes his head.
“How about anyone of the others? There was a man, too. And a young woman with dark skin. Have you seen any of them?”
“No, Mom. I told you: I only saw Dan and the girl who’s sitting out in the van.” Dennis pauses, then dares to say: “I think she’s alone out there.”
“But you don’t know that.”
“No, but …”
“But what? For all you know, that van could be full of people.”
“Yeah, I know, but … I thought of it long and hard last night, Mom, and I think it’s just Dan and the girl. He told me so.”
Mom raises her eyebrows. “He told you he would be coming alone as well. He’s a liar.”
“I know, but …” Dennis shrugs towards the van. “I mean, why would they just stay out there? What are they waiting for?”
Mom seems to consider, then she mutters: “They must have a plan. Luckily, though, it doesn’t really matter. At least not for now. Our problem is the boy.” Mom falls silent once more. Then she looks at Dennis again. “You’re absolutely certain he didn’t have a gun?”
“He wasn’t armed, Mom. I swear.”
“He wasn’t concealing a gun?”
Dennis throws out his arms. “I think I would have seen it. Besides, why wouldn’t he have used it on me if he had one?”
Mom does her slow nod again. She glances at the floor, as though she can see right through to the tunnel below. “We can’t have him running around down there. He might break through the door while we’re sleeping.”
“I don’t think he can,” Dennis begins. “It’s very—”
“We’re not taking that chance,” Mom says, her eyes blazing at him. “We’re cleaning this mess up as best we can.”
“Okay, Mom,” Dennis says meekly. “Then what … what are we going to do?”
Mom’s eyes grow distant for a brief moment. “I need to go down there and take care of it.” Her hand goes to her hip, where she usually keeps the dagger. Dennis can never tell through her gown if it’s there or not.
He gets a sinking feeling in his gut as he realizes what Mom’s intentions are. For some reason, he’s almost sick at the thought of her going down there to …
“Let me do it, Mom,” he blurts out before he even knows what he’s saying. “Let me go down there.”
“No.”
“I’ll take care of it. I’ll use the gun.”
Mom shakes her head. “That thing is way too unreliable. You might miss. Or, even worse, the shot might produce a spark and set everything on fire.”
“But … but this is my mess!” Dennis says, trying to muster some measure of dignity to his voice. “I should be the one to make it right.”
“You should,” Mom says outright. “But I don’t trust you to. And there’s too much at stake.”
“But—”
“We’re done discussing.”
“But, Mom—”
“Enough!”
She raises her voice only slightly, yet it’s enough to make Dennis jump. He forgot himself for a moment. He had to push it, though; the thought of Mom using her dagger on Dan is just too awful. Dennis isn’t sure why, maybe it’s because it reminds him of the way Mom killed Old Niels. Maybe it’s because Dennis feels responsible for Dan ending up down there.
But there’s a deeper reason, too; one that Dennis can’t consciously reach, much less understand. At some level, Dennis identifies with Dan. Not just because they’re the same age, but something about Dan reminded Dennis very much of himself. The way he talked, the way he moved. Dennis has always been an outcast among his classmates—for obvious reasons. And he got the same feeling from Dan—that he was a lonely guy, someone not popular, someone carrying the burden of never being noticed.
Even though Dennis couldn’t put this feeling into words if he had to, part of him understands this to be the reason he doesn’t want Dan to die, the reason why Dennis was never going to burn him alive, even the reason why Dennis trusted Dan in the first place.
Dan and Dennis are very similar, maybe even alike.
In another world they could have been friends. Brothers, even.
“Dennis?” Mom says, bringing him back. Her voice is somewhat softer now, yet very determined. “You stay here, unless I call for you. Okay?”
Dennis swallows, blinks, then nods.
“Good,” Mom says. “I’ll make it fast.”
She turns around and walks out into the hallway. Dennis looks after her as she goes to the cabinet, taking out her dagger. She opens the cabinet carefully, looks briefly at the empty gas can, then steps into the semidarkness.
She stands there for a moment, listening for any sounds through the secret door. Then she reaches out and turns the key slowly.
