Chapter 1 - The Cake on the Rug
The cake hit the wood floor before anyone could catch it. White frosting split open and the blue and orange swirls smeared across the boards by the edge of the rug, and a piece slid under my shoe. I could hear the balloons rubbing against the wall behind me every time someone moved, and the streamers shook. My brother leaned forward so close I could see the sweat on his forehead under his short brown hair, his black suit jacket pulling tight at his shoulders, his white shirt wrinkled at the collar. Everyone went quiet at the same time, like the whole living room was holding its breath.
He was at his peak, the loud angry version of him I almost never saw, and I was crying so hard I couldn't swallow right. The ruined cake sat between us on the floor and my hands were shaking around my phone with the purple case. I knew what I had on it and he didn't yet, and that was the only thing keeping me standing there.
My name is Lily Carter. I was ten that party afternoon.
That morning the kitchen had been bright in a different way, sunlight coming through the window over the sink while Mom's mixer was running. My brother's girlfriend had come over early in her dark green dress to help set up, her long blonde hair tied back at first. I remembered the exact time because the clock on the stove said 10:14 when I walked in with my cereal bowl. She didn't see me at first. She had the big glass bowl of batter on the counter and a little clear vial in her hand, and she tipped it and poured. It was just a thin stream of liquid, quick, and then she stirred it in fast with a spoon like she wanted it gone.
I held my breath behind the doorway. I lifted my phone and pressed record. I watched the screen instead of her, watching her hand tilt the vial over the batter, watching it disappear back into her pocket. The mixer kept humming. My cereal got soggy and I didn't eat it. I saved the video and didn't show anyone until the candles were already on the cake.
I didn't understand it then and I still didn't fully understand it with frosting on my shoe. She smiled at me from across the living room like nothing had happened.
She said, "It was just vanilla."
I looked at her and my voice came out small through the tears.
I said, "What did you just do?"
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No, that wasn't me. That was him shouting it at me, right in my face, because I'd knocked the plate out of his hands. "What did you just do?" he said. I flinched and the tears ran down hot and I held the phone up between us. "I was saving your life," I said. "That cake had poison in it. Your girlfriend mixed it in. Look at this video." My thumb was wet on the case and the screen lit up. I pressed play with everyone watching.
He stared at the phone for half a second, then his head snapped toward her. The framed flag on the wall was right behind him and the balloons bobbed near his shoulder when he turned. "How could you do this?" he yelled. "Get out." Her mouth fell open and her eyes went wide, and she didn't move, and the front door stayed shut, and nobody had opened it yet.
