Chapter 7: A Gathering Crowd
The sound of our voices had carried over the low wooden fences that separated our yard from the neighboring properties. Across the manicured lawn of number 42, Mrs. Gable paused mid-stride while holding her garden hose, the water jetting uselessly into her flower bed as she stared open-mouthed at the strange tableau unfolding in our backyard. Next door, Mr. Henderson lowered his newspaper on his back porch, squinting through his thick bifocals at the sight of a disheveled woman crawling out of a padlocked white camper trailer while an eight-year-old boy stood guard with a hammer.
Sandra spun around, desperately trying to plaster a manic, frantic smile onto her pale face as she waved a dismissive hand toward Mrs. Gable. "Everything's fine!" Sandra called out, her voice pitching up into an unnatural, shrill register that instantly signaled the opposite of fine. "Just a family matter! A drill! A training exercise for the boy!"
Mrs. Gable didn't move. She dropped the garden hose, letting water flood the marigolds, and walked slowly toward the property line, her eyes fixed on my bruised wrists and torn gray t-shirt. "Sandra? Is that... is that Elena? I thought Elena moved to Florida years ago."
"She didn't move anywhere," I rasped, standing fully upright with Leo bracing his small shoulder against my waist to keep me from falling back into the dirt. Every muscle in my body screamed in protest, but I forced my chin up. I looked straight across the lawn into Mrs. Gable's stunned face. "He kept me in the dark. For twenty-four months. In a box."
Sandra lunged forward, her nails digging into my arm with vicious, desperate strength. "Shut up! Shut your lying mouth!" she hissed, her pleasant facade completely incinerated, revealing the frantic, trapped animal underneath. She tried to shove me back toward the camper door, her fingernails tearing fresh red lines into my skin.
Before I could swing my heavy arm to push her away, Leo reacted with blinding speed. He stepped sideways and swung the small iron hammer in a short, clumsy arc, striking Sandra sharply across her expensive leather sandal. Sandra shrieked, stumbling backward and losing her footing on the grass, landing hard on her back in the flowerbed with a heavy thump.
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"Get away from her!" Leo roared, his voice cracking with the strain of pure terror and adrenaline.
The neighborhood was watching now. Front doors were opening down the block. The illusion of Clem's perfect, sunlit suburban castle was dissolving into ash right before our eyes, and the shadow he had cast over our lives was finally coming out into the open air.
