Chapter 6

Sam awoke alone in his bed after a restless night with little sleep. Fully dressed.

Last night, when Ashley had thrown him out of their daughter’s bedroom, he had lain on their bed waiting for her to join him so that they could talk. They were fighting over their nine-year-old daughter making a fuss over nothing. But he had fallen asleep without her. And by the looks of the bed, she hadn’t slept in it. If the alarm on his iPhone hadn’t awoken him, he’d still be sleeping.

Sam had to get ready for his first day as the town’s new doctor. The old doctor he was replacing had died suddenly of a heart attack and Sam hoped the nurse and other staff would be able to guide him until he was ready to be on his own. He tried to focus on that, but his mind kept wandering to what had happened the night before.

As he got ready, Sam agonized over the previous night. He had never seen Ashley that mad. Why was she mad at him? It was Kimberly who had knocked over the chest. But deep down he knew that his forty-five pound, nine-year-old daughter couldn’t have done that. The chest weighed more than her. But she must have done it. How else could it have been knocked over? But why would she do it? To get attention? Is that what this was all about? Did it have something to do with forcing Kimberly to move away from her friends and the only life she had ever known?

When Sam was ready to leave, he stopped outside Kimberly’s bedroom. The door was open and the light on. The chest was still toppled over. His daughter was buried underneath the blanket with only a bit of the top of her blonde hair showing. She was curled in the fetal position. His wife, dressed as she had been the day before, even wearing her sneakers, was lying on top of the blanket. Ashley was on her side with her knees up, spooning the lump beneath the blanket that was their daughter, smothering her with an arm and shoulder over her. Both were sleeping.

Should he wake them? Ashley was going to register Kimberly for school today. He knew how bad a night he had and looked at the way the two were huddled. He knew their night had been no better. Sam closed Kimberly’s bedroom light and left for work.

Sam’s nervousness about their new life ended as soon as he walked into his new doctor’s office. After what had happened to Kimberly with the neighborhood girls, he wasn’t sure if he would be accepted. But he was greeted with warm welcomes. Not like an outsider. It was everything he had expected from a small town and he was convinced he had made the right decision.

The day passed more relaxed than his old job. Whereas his previous patients had gunshot and stab wounds, were mangled in car accidents, and other big city problems, his new practice was nothing like that. Just the typical sore throat or belly ache or strained muscle. The most severe cases were farming injuries. Before he knew it, Sam was driving home.

Sam entered his house whistling. He found Ashley and Kimberly huddled on the couch, Ashley’s arms around her daughter and Kimberly’s face buried in her bosom. They jumped when he banged the door closed and Kimberly let out a muffled scream. Sam walked over to them with a huge smile. It disappeared when he saw the look on Ashley’s face.

“Did you register Kimberly for school?” Sam asked.

“How the hell would I get to the school?”

Ashley’s tone caused Sam to take a step back. Not that it was said loudly. It was filled with bitterness. Speechless, he stood staring at her.

“We have one damn car,” Ashley said. She spit the words out. “The plan was for me to drop you off at work and then have the car until I picked you up again.”

Sam slapped his forehead. “I forgot. Sorry.”

“Why didn’t you wake us?”

“I, um, I thought you needed the sleep. I didn’t think you got much sleep so I—”

“Damn right we didn’t get much sleep.”

Sam was shocked. Ashley kept swearing. She never swore.

“You know why we didn’t get much sleep?” Ashley asked.

Sam was thinking of an answer when Ashley shouted, “Because this creepy house sucks. That’s why!”

Ashley still had Kimberly clutched in her arms. Sam noticed the girl trembling. Sam was at a loss for words, but he had to say something.