I Died to End Their Lie novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Basement Flat

The basement on Garrison Street had one window, and it looked at the feet of people walking by.

It held a hot plate, a sink, a folding table and a mattress on the floor.

Dad had hung a bedsheet across the middle for a wall.

I floated near the pipes.

I could hear the washing machine of the family upstairs shaking the ceiling.

It was seven o'clock, and Dad was late.

Mom stood at the hot plate stirring a pot of canned soup.

She had her hair tied back with a rubber band.

She no longer wore her cardigans.

She set three bowls on the folding table.

Two had a spoon.

The third sat in front of the empty chair, and beside it, propped up against the wall, was the robot in its unopened box.

"Eat," she said to it.

She said it quietly, in the voice she used to use for Cade.

"You never came to the table. I'm sorry for that."

She ladled soup into the third bowl and watched the steam rise.

"I called you to dinner every night," she said. "I never once checked if you came."

The robot sat in its box.

I felt the pull in my chest again, the thin bright line leading toward the window.

She was talking to a toy, and I knew it didn't matter.

The door at the top of the stairs opened.

Dad came down in a canvas jacket, with a day's dirt on him.

He worked at a lumber yard now, loading trucks.

His hands were split across the knuckles, and he took each step slowly.

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