Chapter 6: The Night He Left My Door Open
Daddy didn't finish his plate. He didn't tell me to finish mine either. He just pushed his chair back and lifted me up from where I was standing by the dining table. My bunny was still pressed against my chest and my cheeks felt tight where the tears had dried.
Vanessa stayed at the table. I could hear her fork move against her plate even though nobody was eating. Daddy carried me down the hall toward my room and I kept my face against his navy shirt. It smelled like laundry detergent and a little like sweat. He was breathing hard.
I was four and my room was the small one at the end of the hall with the nightlight shaped like a moon. He set me down on the edge of my bed and knelt so we were eye level. He didn't turn on the big light.
"You still have him," he said, touching the ear of my bunny. "You keep him, okay?"
I nodded and held it tighter. The pink ribbon was twisted and damp where I'd been squeezing it.
He pulled the blanket back and I crawled in with my white dress still on. He didn't say to change clothes. He tucked the blanket around me, not too tight, and smoothed my hair back. His hand lingered for a second on my forehead like he was checking if I was warm.
"Daddy, can you check it?" I whispered.
He understood. He stood up but left my bedroom door wide open. I watched him walk the few steps to the laundry room. The door was white with a silver handle and it had been closed since dinner. He turned the handle and opened it and stood there for a moment looking inside. The machine was quiet. The light was off. He reached up and clicked the lock on the inside, then pulled the door shut again and tested it. It didn't open.
"Locked," he said, coming back to me. "Nobody's going in there tonight."
He sat on the floor next to my bed so his face was close to mine. The moon nightlight threw a soft yellow glow across the carpet.
I looked at the open doorway and then back at him. "Will she be gone in the morning?" I asked.
He paused. I saw his jaw move under his stubble and his eyes go to the hallway and then back to me. He didn't answer right away. He took a breath that I could hear.
"Not tonight, Ellie," he said quietly. "She's going to stay downstairs tonight because it's late and you need to sleep. Tomorrow we're going to talk about what happens next, and I'm going to keep you safe no matter what. That's the truth."
I nodded even though I wanted a different answer. He had told me the truth instead of a quick yes, and I held that. He promised he would leave my door open and he would stay close.
Downstairs, Vanessa was still at the dark wood table. I could hear her phone clicking. She wasn't crying anymore. From where I lay I couldn't see her, but later Daddy told me she had her phone lit up in front of her and was typing fast, her cream blouse bright in the low lamp light. She texted her sister and her mom while the plates sat cold. She wrote that I had gotten confused before dinner, that I was overtired and had made up a story, that Daddy was upset and had overreacted about the camera. She was setting her version first, before anyone else could call.
Daddy came back and sat on the edge of my bed again. He didn't bring his phone. He just held my hand over the bunny.
"You don't have to go back in that room ever if you don't want to," he said.
I felt my eyes getting heavy. "Will you keep the door open?" I asked.
May you like
"All night," he said.
I fell asleep with the bunny against my chest and the moon light on. The hallway stayed lit and my door stayed open and I could hear Daddy's footsteps going back toward the living room, where Vanessa was still sitting and where neither of them would sleep properly. The house was quiet except for the hum of the heater, and for that night, that was enough to let me sleep.
