In a soft tone, Adam said, “Don’t do this.”
Amber grabbed a cloth face mask from a drawer on a console table near the front door. She put it on and stepped up to Adam, her face just a few inches away from his chest. She expected him to move. He did not. She reached for the doorknob. Adam sidestepped to block her.
“Get out of the way,” Amber said.
“I can’t let you do this.”
“Get out of my way, Adam.”
“It’s not safe. She’s—”
“Stop it! For Christ’s sake, stop, Adam! If you can’t tell me what you’re scared of, how can you expect me to take you seriously? You’re losing it. You’re losing your mind, baby! You need help! There’s no danger! We’re safe!”
“We’re not,” Adam whimpered.
“We are!”
“Please.”
“I’ll show you. I’ll show you once and for all that we’re fine.”
Amber reached for the door chain.
Adam pushed her away and said, “Stop.”
She lunged at the door chain again.
“Please,” Adam groaned. “Don’t make me do this.”
Amber hooked her fingers over the door chain. The chain’s jingle made Adam panic. He grabbed Amber’s wrists and pushed her away from the door. She yelped as his tight grip cut off the circulation to her hands. Then she grunted as he slammed her against the wall next to the console table. Picture frames, holding photographs of happy memories, swung on the wall behind her.
Riley’s cries grew louder, although she had already stopped watching the argument.
Eyes wide with shock, Amber stuttered, “You–You’re… a–a… monster.”
“Let me explain,” Adam said. “I’ll tell you everything as long as you don’t open that door.”
“Let me go.”
“Amber, I need you to say it. Say you won’t leave me.”
Squirming against the wall, struggling to break free, Amber said, “You let me go or I’m going to scream. I’ll scream so loud that everyone will hear it. Vince, Rhonda, Michael. They’ll call the cops and they’ll arrest you, you asshole. In front of everyone. In front of your daughter. Then who’s going to ‘protect us’ when you’re locked up? Huh?”
Adam knew Amber was right. The situation could have easily escalated. He couldn’t allow it to end in his imprisonment. As far as he knew, he was the only person standing between Miki and his family.
He said, “Please, Amber, you have to—”
“Let me go!” Amber yelled. “Get your hands off me!”
Adam staggered back, as if blown away by Amber’s bellow. Riley bounced in her highchair and started crying for her mother. Amber jerked away from Adam’s grip. She grabbed her keys from the key rack above the console table. She swung her car key at Adam like a knife. Adam raised his hands, as if he were a criminal caught by the police, and he teetered back into the living room. The key missed his palm by an inch.
“Calm down,” he said. “Don’t do this, Amber. I’m trying to protect us.”
“Sta–Stay away from me.”
“You’re making a big mistake. Let me fix this.”
Amber lifted Riley from her seat, babbled a string of incomprehensible baby talk into her ear to calm her down, and then she marched back into the living room.
Adam asked, “What are you going to do? Huh? You’re going to go out there in the rain? Drive off to… to… Where are you even going to go? Your mom’s place in Thousand Oaks? You’re driving to Thousand Oaks in this weather? Is that your plan? Answer me, Amber.”
Amber grabbed a blanket from the sofa and wrapped it around Riley. The toddler kept sobbing while wrestling with her mother. Riley could feel the tension between her warring parents. Amber slung a diaper bag over her shoulder. As she turned to leave, she found Adam standing in her way.
Adam said, “Please, Amber, give me a chance to explain myself. I’ll tell you everything, I promise.”
“You don’t understand, do you? I don’t care anymore. I don’t care about the ‘bad things’ you’ve done. I don’t need an explanation. You put your hands on me. You hurt me and you’re a danger to my daughter.”
“I would never hurt Riley. And I wasn’t trying to hurt you, either. I’m trying to protect us.”
“You… You’re trying to protect us from some imaginary monster outside. I’m trying to protect us—myself and Riley—from the monster in here. And that’s you, Adam. We can’t stay here with you. We’re leaving. If you try to stop us, I’ll scream. And if you hurt Riley, I’ll… I’ll kill you.”
Adam had never seen such ferocity in Amber. Her maternal instinct took control. She believed she was in a fight-or-die situation, and she was willing to do anything to protect Riley.
A mother’s wrath was not to be underestimated.
Teeth chattering, Adam stuttered, “Whe–When I was in Japa—”
“Get out of the way, you bastard!” Amber cried as she pushed past him.
Adam pulled on her diaper bag and yelled, “Please stop!”
“Don’t touch me!” Amber screamed, twisting her body left and right to try to escape his grip. “Don’t touch me!”
“Amber, please don’t…”
Adam released the bag upon noticing the tears and fear on Riley’s face. He was doing more than just scaring her. He was scarring the girl. He stepped back and allowed his wife to stumble away. Hands shaking, Amber unlocked the front door while constantly looking back at him, as if she were being chased by a serial killer in a horror movie.
The door swung open.
To Adam’s surprise, the visitor was gone.
“It wasn’t her?” he whispered questioningly.
Sobbing, Amber took Riley to the SUV in the driveway, rain pouring down on them. She sat in the driver’s seat, locked the doors, and blindly threw the diaper bag into the back seat.
“It–It–It’s o–okay,” she stammered as she rocked Riley in her arms.
Riley couldn’t stop crying, her cheeks as red as blood. Amber gasped as Adam lurched towards the SUV, slipping and sliding on the wet lawn.
“Amber, please!” he cried.
Amber reversed out of the driveway without looking back. The tires screeched and puddles splashed as she stomped on the brakes. The SUV stopped a foot away from a luxury sedan parked across the street. There were no other drivers on the road. She put the car in drive and turned left. She sped off just as Adam reached the street.
Adam jogged after her, following the dashed yellow line between the lanes, but he stopped after five meters. He watched as Amber took a right at an intersection down the street. The SUV vanished from his sight. He buried his hands in his wet hair and stared at the intersection, awe written in his eyes. He thought: What have I done?
“Shh, baby, s–shh,” Amber said, one hand on the steering wheel and the other on Riley’s back. “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay. Please, baby, don’t cry. Don’t cry, sweetie.”
She kissed Riley’s forehead, but it didn’t help. The girl kept wailing and wailing—and wailing. Toddlers could smell danger, and Riley had caught a big whiff of it. Amber’s eyes widened as she spotted the STOP sign at the upcoming intersection. She stepped on the brake pedal. She was going too fast to stop safely. She tightened her grip on Riley, put her hand behind her neck, and slammed the brakes.
The SUV came to a sudden halt, the front tires on the faded stop line.
Amber checked on Riley—she was fine—then she glanced around. She realized there were no other drivers, pedestrians, or cops out there. She was only a danger to herself and her daughter.