The Good Daughter

The house looked like it came from a fairy tale. 1

Angie’s family had moved into their small house in the woods a few weeks ago and, after getting all of her stuff unpacked, she’d started to explore. In only a few days, she’d turned over every stone and looked inside every crevice until her curiosity was sated but, when she saw the winding path and her eyes followed it up to the cottage, she was mystified. 2

It had stone walls, a slate roof and tall, empty windows; it almost blended in with the grays and faded browns of the dead leaves and bare tree trunks around it, like it was hiding. The house even had a stout square turret that reminded Angie of a picture from her storybook, like the tower of a castle that housed a sleeping princess or wicked queen. 3

She was about to rush up the pathway and into the house when she heard her mother’s voice calling her. 4

“Angie! Lunch time!”5

Though she would’ve ignored her mother’s commands any other time, her stomach was aching from hunger so she ran back to her own house. After seeing the fairy tale cottage, the brick house, willed to her father after her grandmothers’ death last month, looked boring and she couldn’t wait to escape it and explore behind the stone walls and inside the turret. 6

“Wipe your feet, honey,” her mother called, as Angie ran through the back door and into the kitchen. She just grabbed a sandwich from a plate on the small table, leaving a trail of muddy footprints behind her. Her mother looked at them and sighed.7

“I know you’re hungry, but you need to wash your hands, honey. They’re filthy and you could get dirt in your food and get sick. You don’t want to miss your first day of school, do you?”8

“I’m not going to school!” Angie snapped, through a mouthful of peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “School’s stupid. Everyone there will be stupid like they were at the old school.”9

“Well maybe if you hadn’t been so pushy with the other children, they would’ve wanted to play with you, Angie.”10

“They deserved it. They were a bunch of dumb little babies.”11

“Now that you’re going into second grade, I’ expect you to act more mature and respectful of other people, Angela,” her father said, sternly, as he walked in from the living room.12

“Don’t say that stuff to me!” she yelled, her cheeks getting as red as her hair. “You’re stupid, too! I’m going to that house, no one’s gonna be mean to me there!”13

“What house?” her mother asked, confused. 14

“Angela, don’t you dare leave when we’re talking to you!” her father yelled, but she was already out the door. 15

Angie bolted across the backyard, darting around trees and bushes, hearing her father bellowing for her to come back. She ran faster, deeper into the forest, until the sound ebbed off, and she was standing before the house. The front door was made of warped wooden planks that jutted away from each other at the bottom like crooked teeth. Angie twisted the corroded doorknob, feeling it grind against the lock, but the door stuck when she pulled it. She wrenched at the handle and felt the door give. It drifted towards her with a creak.16

The tall, narrow windows didn’t allow much light. The inside of the house was cluttered with haphazard shapes that Angie guessed were furniture. 17

“Hello?” she called, stepping inside. The air was chilly and smelled like mold. No one answered her.18

“Boring empty house,” she muttered bitterly, turning back to the door. 19

She stopped when she heard the sound, a loud cracking right overhead. She looked up and, though it was too dark to see, she could hear something falling towards her. 20

***21

Angie woke up in her own bed. Sun was shining on her through the window and she could hear birds singing. Her head hurt terribly. She instantly remembered the house, the sound of something breaking and falling over her, but everything else was hazy. 22

“Martina!” her father’s voice boomed down the hall, calling her mother. “Breakfast ready?”23

“Daddy!” Angie cried, happily, realizing what must have happened. She jumped off of her bed and ran to her door, seeing her father’s back as he walked into the kitchen. She ran after him, yelling, “Daddy, what happened yesterday! You saved me!” She stood at the kitchen door, watching her father sit down at the breakfast table, in front of a plate of scrambled eggs. His hands had odd, dark stains on them and she wondered why her mother hadn’t told him to wash up before eating. “Daddy, if you hadn’t gone after me and pulled me out of that house, the ceiling would’ve fallen on me and crushed me! You saved my life!”24

He was looking in her direction, but he continued chewing his food, listlessly. 25

“I’m so, so sorry I ran away, Daddy,” she said, walking over to him, sheepishly. “I’ll never do anything like that ever again. I’ll never talk back to you and I’ll make friends with all the kids at school and treat them nice just like you said!”26

He took a sip from his glass of orange juice, but didn’t say anything to her.27

“Daddy!” she yelled, worried. “Please don’t give me the silent treatment again! I’m really, truly sorry for what I did this time! I really will be good from now on!”28

“Good breakfast, Martina,” he said.29

“Thank you, Cliff,” her mother responded, as she put plates into the cupboard. 30

“Momma,” Angie whined, turning to her mother. “Tell daddy to talk to me. I know he’s just mad because I could’ve gotten hurt yesterday, but you know I really will be good. I’ll always wipe my shoes off and wash my hands before I eat and I just can’t wait to start school!”31

Angie tugged on her mother’s denim skirt and saw Martina look down in her direction. Their eyes met and her lips moved to say something, but she quickly turned her face to the cabinet door and asked, “Do you have anything planned for today, Cliff?”32

“Momma!” Angie wailed in frustration. She was about to grab a dish off of the counter and throw it to the ground just to get them to acknowledge her when she heard a small voice call out,33

“Hello?”34

Angie looked back and saw a young girl standing at the open front door. The girl looked at Angie quizzically and asked again.35

“Hello?”36

“Who are you?” Angie growled, on the verge of tears.37

“My name’s Maggie. I live nearby. I was just looking for someone to play with,” she answered simply, still standing in the doorway. Angie looked back at her parents, who were continuing their activities, still ignoring her and seeming not to notice the girl, either.38

“Look daddy, I’m going to go play with this girl. I can be nice to her, just like I’ll be nice to everyone from now on,” Angie said everything slow, deliberate and angry, glaring at her father. She stomped over to Maggie, who had curly blonde hair and was wearing a light blue cotton dress. The girl looked confused, but followed Angie away from the house and into the forest.39

“I just heard that your family moved into that house and came up to see if there were any children there my age. I was getting awfully lonely. Are you going to the school in town?”40

“Gonna start second grade,” Angie muttered. 41

“Me too!” Maggie chirped. 42

“I hate school. I hope the kids in your school aren’t dumb like the kids in my last school.”43

“I like school a lot. Everyone there is really nice. I like going to school a lot more than being home.”44

“What’s wrong with your house?” Angie asked, curiously.45

“The roof caved in on us,” she snickered.46

“What?”47

“My parents are mean. They’re not my real parents, though. My real parents were killed in an accident in our old house and I got sent to live with my father’s step-brother, but he and his wife don’t like children very much. I usually come up here to visit my old house whenever I wanna get away from them or they don’t want me around.”48

When Maggie stopped talking, Angie looked up and saw that they were standing on the path leading to the stone cottage. She looked around for another house but saw only dead trees. 49

“This… is your house?”50

“Yup!” Maggie nodded, smiling brightly. “C’mon, let’s go play!”51

Maggie grabbed Angie’s hand and pulled her up to the house, through the door that swung open for them. They stopped in the shadowy darkness and Angie snapped,52

“I was in here yesterday and there’s nothing to do.”53

“Oh, there’s plenty of fun stuff. You would’ve seen it yesterday, except you left before I could show you.”54

“You were here yesterday?” Angie asked, the skin on the back of her neck starting to crawl. She inched toward the door, but then heard a scratching sound as Maggie nudged something with her foot, the sole of her shoe scraping against the hard dirt floor. Angie looked down and saw something pale and slender in the clutter they were surrounded by. Squinting in the darkness, she thought she was looking at the arm of a large doll. Maggie bent over and moved it slightly. Angie saw that the doll had long red hair and, when Maggie rolled it over on its back, Angie saw that the doll had her own terrified face. 55

Angie screamed and ran for the door, but it was shut. She wrenched at the handle but the door wouldn’t budge. 56

“Let me out!” she screamed. “You’re crazy!”57

“I just miss them so much, Angie,” Maggie said, her voice calm. “I’d do anything to have my parents back… to have any parents at all…”58

“Let me out! Let me out! Momma! Daddy! Help me!” Angie howled, beating her small fists against the door. 59

“You’ll stay here this time, Angie,” Maggie whispered. “Your daddy won’t come to try and save you.”60

Angie stilled and instead of the darkness of the cottage, she could see herself running into the house, away from her father, then tripping on something, falling and not getting up. Then she saw her father kneeling in a pile of rubble, weeping as he held her limp body, his hands stained with blood that flowed from a wound in her forehead. And then Angie saw her own shadowy figure standing next to her cold body, talking to her father without him hearing, following him home without him seeing.61

And then she heard the sounds of the brittle, warped floorboards creaking and cracking and splintering overhead. They came apart slowly, but everything tumbled down on them fast and the sound was deafening. And then Angie didn’t hear anything at all. 62

***63

The sun was almost setting when they got to the ruins of the cottage.64

“What do you think that used to be, dear?” Martina asked her husband.65

“Probably a mill, judging from the old stone silo,” Cliff answered, looking at the stout tower that loomed over the massive pile of chipped rock and broken boards. The site made him feel uneasy, but he wasn’t sure why. He rubbed his left hand against his jeans, surreptitiously trying to wipe away the stain whose presence he’d never been able to account for. 66

“Daddy, can we go look at it?” the little girl asked, hopefully.67

“I don’t think so, Maggie,” he told her, ruffling her curly blonde hair. “It looks dangerous. We should get home before it gets any darker, anyway.”68

The family turned around and started back down the path. The couple held hands and smiled while their daughter skipped ahead, laughing.69

Angie stared at them, from the shadow of the silo, crying tears that were as substantial as the wind blowing through her.