He Found His Mother Bound in the Pantry at Midnight

CHAPTER 1 - THE PANTRY DOOR

"Mom?"

The word tore out of Ethan before he could stop it.

It was past midnight. The house was quiet except for the hum of the refrigerator and the old hinge of the pantry door groaning open. He had come downstairs for water after another restless hour in bed.

Instead, he found his mother on the floor.

Marianne sat curled against a shelf of canned tomatoes and flour sacks, her hands tied in front of her with a soft robe belt. Her silver hair had slipped from its clip. Her face looked pale and sharp in the dim light.

Ethan dropped to his knees.

"What the hell happened?" He reached for the knot.

She jerked backward so fast her shoulder hit the wall. "No. Don't untie me."

His hand froze in the air.

He stared at her. "Why?"

Her eyes moved past him to the doorway. Fear flashed there, raw and urgent. "Please. Just go."

Before Ethan could answer, a voice came from behind him.

"Ethan?"

He turned.

Laura stood in the pantry entrance in her red house dress, one hand pressed flat against the frame. She looked first at him, then at Marianne. For one strange second, the two women locked eyes. Marianne gave the smallest shake of her head.

Ethan rose to his feet and stepped in front of his mother.

"Why is she tied up?"

Laura swallowed. She did not look frightened. She looked tired.

Then she said, very quietly, "She asked me to."

Behind him, Ethan heard Marianne's breathing turn shallow. He turned back. His mother hid her tied hands against her chest like a child protecting something broken.

And then Ethan noticed it.

There were scratches on the inside of the pantry door.

Long, desperate marks.

And on the shelf beside Marianne lay his dead father's old pocket watch, ticking.

"I didn't put that watch in here," Ethan said.