CHAPTER 22

 

Mama never should have stayed out so late. Somehow, the first purification hadn’t been enough and she’d had to find the proper place to perform the ritual again. Still unsatisfied, the sense of sin still too powerful to ignore, she’d had to complete the ceremony a third time to quiet the feeling of wrongness.

After the third purification, she’d felt restless, unfinished. She knew she had to return to the children, that they needed her with time running so short. But she just drove, watching the stars vanish and the sky lighten. It was full daylight now, yet Mama couldn’t let go of the sense that she’d left something undone.

She turned aimlessly, drove slowly through a neighborhood crowded with houses, children’s toys strewn across lawns, flowerbeds full of so much color it made her heart ache. She knew the people in these houses were full of sin, that they passed their wickedness on to their children. But for a moment, she longed for the life they had.

A school bus was stopped up ahead, its red lights flashing. Mama pulled over, tried to see through the bus windows, to see the children inside. But the sun was so bright on the glass, she had to squeeze her eyes shut. She opened them again just as the bus was pulling away.

The paved road Mama had stopped on turned to gravel just beyond. A girl was running up the road toward Mama, waving her arms and yelling at the bus. When the bus kept going, the girl turned and saw Mama’s truck. She smiled and walked over and Mama’s heart stuttered in her chest. Blonde hair, blue eyes, perfect face.

Angela. Mama’s sweet daughter had come back.

Angela opened the door, started to climb into the truck. Then she saw Mama.

“Sorry,” Angela said. “I thought you were–”

Mama grabbed Angela’s arm and yanked her inside. Stomping the accelerator, Mama drove away fast, the door slamming shut. Angela screamed, tried to grab the door handle, but Mama hung on tight to Angela’s arm.

“Let me go,” Angela pleaded. “Please, let me go.”

She was crying and Mama couldn’t bear it. She slapped Angela hard, once, twice. The second time Mama’s daughter hit her head against the truck window. She was quiet after that. No more yelling, no more crying, leaving Mama to revel in her joy. Her oldest daughter had returned to her. Now her family was complete.