Chapter 5
The light made a sound before I noticed the cold. It was this thin, steady hum from the long tube above us, and every few seconds it would hitch and flicker. My eyes kept pulling up to it. The room wasn't big. Green metal shelves lined both sides, stacked with white towels folded into perfect squares, and a couple plastic bins of cleaning supplies on the floor. The air smelled like bleach and damp concrete. My sneakers were on cold cement and I could feel it seeping up through the soles.
Teresa still had her arms around me. She hadn't let go since the door shut. One hand was flat on my back, the other on the back of my head, holding me against the front of her uniform. Her apron was rough against my cheek. I was breathing too fast and I couldn't make it slow down.
"You are okay," she whispered into my hair. Her voice was so low I felt it more than heard it. "Breathe with me, Claire. In, out. Slow."
I tried. My chest kept hitching. I nodded but my throat was closed up.
She pulled back just enough to look at my face. Her hands came to my shoulders and she crouched a little so we were eye level. Her eyes moved over me like she was checking for something broken.
"Can you take a deep breath for me?" she said. She breathed in loudly through her nose, showing me. "Like this. Come on, sweetheart."
I copied her. The air tasted cold. The fluorescent light buzzed again and flickered and for a half-second our shadows jumped.
"Good," she said. "Again."
We did it three more times until my shoulders dropped a little. She tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. Her hand was shaking.
Then footsteps came back to the other side of the door.
We both froze. Teresa's hand tightened on my shoulder. She didn't stand up. She just turned her head toward the wood.
Melanie's voice came through, clear and even, like she was speaking through the brass plate.
"You want to protect her? Fine, stay with her. Maybe now you'll both learn your place."
Teresa didn't answer right away. I felt her inhale.
"Melanie, please," she said. Her voice stayed quiet. "She's cold. Let me get her sweater at least."
"No," Melanie said from the hall. "You made your choice when you stepped in front of her. You both need a minute to think about how you act in this house."
I stared at the door. The wood was dark and the brass hardware caught the harsh light from inside. I could see the keyhole and the deadbolt turned over. I kept thinking Dad would make that sound go away, but Dad had walked away down the hall. I didn't know where he went.
"She didn't do anything," Teresa said, still whispering but louder now. "She's eight."
Melanie laughed once, short. "She knows exactly what she did. Honey, please, I'm sorry doesn't fix being rude. You want to act like a problem, then get out of my sight. That's what I told her."
Teresa pulled me closer again. I buried my face against her side. Her uniform smelled like laundry soap.
My chest hurt from holding the crying in. In my head I was trying to figure out what I did. I had said I was sorry. I had said honey, please. That wasn't enough, so maybe she was right. Maybe I was the problem. If I hadn't talked back, if I had just gone to my room when she told me to, we wouldn't be in the basement. Teresa wouldn't be in trouble either. That thought got heavy and sat in my stomach.
The light flickered again, longer this time. One of the tubes at the far end was darker than the other, glowing brown at the tips.
"It's so cold," I whispered without meaning to. My voice cracked.
Teresa rubbed my arms fast with both hands, trying to make friction heat. She looked at the shelves, then grabbed one of the folded white towels and unfolded it and wrapped it around my shoulders. It was thin and not warm, but it was something. She wrapped another one around herself.
"We stay together, okay?" she whispered, her mouth close to my ear so Melanie couldn't hear. "Your dad heard us. He knows we're here. He will not leave us. I promise."
I nodded, but my teeth were starting to chatter a little. It wasn't just cold. It was how the room had no windows and no sound except that hum and our breathing. I didn't know how long we had been inside. It felt like ten minutes but also like an hour. Time stretched funny.
Melanie's shadow moved under the door crack. She was still there.
"You can keep whispering in there," she said through the wood. "It doesn't change the lesson."
Then her footsteps went away again, slower this time, clicking on the floor above. A soft click, then nothing.
I looked up at Teresa. Her eyes were wet but she wasn't crying the way I was. She was watching the door, listening for whether Melanie was really gone.
"How long do we stay?" I asked her. My voice was tiny.
Teresa swallowed. She smoothed the towel tighter around my shoulders and pressed her forehead lightly to mine for a second. Her breath was warm against my face.
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"As long as we have to," she said. "We can do this. You are not alone."
The fluorescent tube hummed and hitched. The cold kept coming up from the floor. I stopped waiting for the lock to click and started listening to how long my breath could stay even. That was the only thing I could control in there.
