Chapter 1 - The Outside Latch
My name is Maya.
I always thought my older brother, Liam, was the protector of our family.
Whenever our parents worked late, he was the one who looked after our youngest sister, Chloe.
He would even bring her ice packs before our parents came home.
My mother always thought that made him deeply caring.
One night, my college class was canceled, so I walked into the house three hours early.
I found Chloe locked in the hallway bathroom.
She was crying quietly, her sleeve pulled tightly over a dark purple bruise on her forearm.
Liam stood in the hallway, looking completely unfazed.
He told me she had thrown a tantrum and locked herself inside.
Chloe looked at the heavy brass latch on the door and whispered.
“Then how did I reach that?”
I did not answer him.
I put my fingers on the latch instead.
The metal was cold, and it sat exactly where my sister had pointed.
It was on our side of the bathroom door.
Behind me, the refrigerator hummed in the quiet kitchen.
Liam kept talking smoothly, as if enough words could make the metal latch disappear.
I stepped between him and the bathroom door.
“Back up.”
He rolled his eyes and told me I was being overly dramatic.
He claimed Chloe had gotten upset, slammed the door, and probably bruised herself at school earlier that day.
But when he took a step toward her, she pressed her back against the porcelain sink.
She pulled her sleeve even farther down her arm.
He had an answer for the latch.
He had an answer for the bruise.
He had an answer for her tears.
What he did not have was an answer for why she flinched in absolute terror when he stepped closer.
Chloe finally came out when I held my hand out toward her.
She did not run.
She moved carefully, watching his hands the entire time.
She stood behind my shoulder like I was a shield.
Then she said something that changed every memory I had of him carrying those ice packs through the house.
“He gives them to me afterward.”
I asked her what she meant.
She swallowed hard and said he would hurt her when Mom and Dad worked late.
Then he would make her hold ice against the bruises so they would not swell before our parents came home.
If anyone noticed she had been crying, he forced her to say they had argued like normal siblings.
Liam cut in fast, his voice suddenly sharp.
“She is twisting everything.”
He reached toward her arm like he wanted to show me the bruise himself.
Chloe jerked backward so hard she hit the wall.
I caught his wrist before he could touch her.
I told him once, very quietly, not to reach for her again.
He laughed like I had just misunderstood some stupid family joke.
“You know how she gets.”
I took my sister into the kitchen and kept my body between them.
While Liam argued from the doorway, I pulled out my phone.
I sent Mom a short text message.
“Come home now, and do not tell Liam you are coming.”
Liam stopped talking and stared at my phone.
His charming smile vanished completely.
May you like
“Who did you just text?”
Before I could answer, the heavy front door clicked open.
