Page 81 of Abundance of Obsession

The bed was empty.

There was no sign of Mom.

The bathroom door was wide open. It was dark inside.

She wasn’t there either.

I closed the door behind me and started looking for her. I checked room after room.

Every corner. Every closet.

The kitchen was the second-to-last room. The garage remained until the end. But when I walked into the kitchen, something icy ran down my spine. Everything seemed to be in its place. I didn’t find Mom there either.

Then I saw the pantry door. Ajar.

No one ever left it open.

The tiles under my feet were colder than usual.

With a lump in my throat and my heart pounding, I slowly approached the door. Today I know that before I even touched the doorknob, I already knew.

I opened the door.

It was dark inside.

I took a step.

Something wet clung to my feet.

When I groped my way to the light switch, the light revealed a scene that haunts me to this day.

In the pantry's corner sat my mother, in her white nightgown with pink lace at the neckline. Her legs lay flat on the floor. She was staring at me. Right at me…

Her hands rested at her sides.

Blood was no longer flowing from them.

Blood.

I looked down and saw that I was standing in a pool of blood. It was no longer warm.

It had left my mother’s body long ago.

Then the scream reached me.

Piercing. Unceasing.

As if the world were ending right then.

Scream, scream, scream…

It took me a moment to realize that the scream was mine.

Chapter 21

Zoe

Before I change my mind, I hit ‘send’.