Waltham
Cross - North London
She puts the shopping on the porch and reaches for
the sliding door. She steps in and unlocks the wooden door, shoves an old
magazine underneath as a door stop and goes back outside to fetch the shopping.
The house is dark " all the curtains drawn and
shutters pulled down " and even though it’s still bright outside, the living
room is covered in pitch black!
“Liam?” she turns the light switch on, “Liam, are
you in here? Where’s your dad? Liam..?” she repeats in a soft but trembling
voice and the slim figure of a child, not older than five or six years old,
pokes out from underneath the big dining table at the far right corner of the
room. He slowly puts his head out first, looking scared and as soon as she sees
him, she runs to him and puts him in her arms and squeezes him gently “Did it
happen again?” she whispers. “Don’t worry baby! Mommy’s here now…Where’s your
dad?”
He puts his arms around her and clutches as hard as
he can. His voice shaking and words barely coming out of his mouth “He’s
upstairs….sleeping and he said…he said not to wake him up”
She picks him up and gently sits him on a chair,
then she picks up the shopping “Does my baby want some peanut butter sandwich?”
she asks smiling and he nods his head in excitement.
She knows that he feels safe when she’s around;
somehow, she always made things better; she always protects him from the bad
shadows and the boogies in the closet and she knows that when she’s away he is
afraid of the shadows.
He gets up
and runs after her into the kitchen, smiling. He pulls the stool, from under
the counter, in front of the sink, stands on it, grabs his plastic cup and
fills it with water and then downs it.
“Mommy…” he whispers
“Yes, baby?”
“Why is daddy’s shadow chasing me every time he goes
to sleep?” he asks and his mother’s smiling facial expression changes
instantly.
She leaves the sandwich half-finished on the
counter, approaches her son and kneels in front of him. Her sad eyes, dark as
they can be but full of compassion and love, she forces a smile to show
“I wish
I knew baby…but don’t you worry! Mommy will always protect you, ok?” she gives
him a kiss on the forehead and goes back to finishing the sandwich.
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