Main Dishes

Eight minutes into the drive, my phone vibrated. I checked the screen at a red light, and a cold shiver raced up my spine. Lauren. I opened the message with one hand, keeping my eyes on the road. Turn around. Now. Nothing else. No “is everything okay?”, no “where are you going?”, not even an…

Three days later, the phone vibrated again. It didn’t ring. It didn’t blast that cursed ringtone I had reserved specifically for Elias. This time, it only vibrated, crawling across the wood of the nightstand like a trapped insect. Still, I knew before I even looked that it was him. Or whatever was using his name….

The police officers checked the backyard, the street, the neighboring rooftops, and even the vacant lots on the corner. They didn’t find anyone. One of them, a young man with a calm voice, took notes while Julia held Emma wrapped in a blanket. The girl wouldn’t let go of her hand. “Do you recognize the…

After almost twenty minutes, the pavement changed. Victoria felt it in her back before her mind understood it. They were no longer on familiar avenues or the streets of Evanston where the car jolted over potholes or speed bumps. Now the ride was smoother, straighter, longer. As if they had left the area where they…

On the sixth night, she made a decision. She waited until the front desk clock struck 8:17 p.m., enough time for the man and the girl to be settled into room 112. Then she grabbed a rolled-up towel, a master key, and a small flashlight, pretending for the old hallway cameras that she was going…

Mariela read the note once. Then again. And a third time, slower, as if the words might change if she stared at them long enough. They didn’t change. Your daughter’s injury is not consistent with grinding her teeth. Ask her who hit her. If you or the girl are in danger, go to the police…

“No,” I whispered. “I’m not safe. Please… don’t let her back in yet.” The nurse’s expression didn’t change, and perhaps that was how I knew she truly understood. She simply closed her hand over the scrap of paper as if it were an ordinary gesture and gave a single, firm nod. Then she opened the…

The doorbell rang—once, twice, three times—and I let a few seconds pass before approaching the door. I didn’t run. I didn’t rush. I had nothing to fear. I opened it calmly, keeping the security chain on at first, just to see their faces before letting them into the small foyer that still belonged to me,…

But before the operator could finish asking for my address a second time, I heard something from the other side of the door that tore my soul apart. A thud. Then another. And then the dry cough of a boy who had been breathing confined air for far too long. “I’m coming, Dylan, I’m coming!”…

And when the operator asked me what was happening, I felt that if I said the exact words, something was going to break forever. “My son came back injured from his mom’s house,” I said, my voice more tremulous than I wanted. “He’s ten years old. He can’t sit down. It hurts him to walk….