The music abruptly stops.
“Did you hear that?” he asks.
“More music?”
“Crying.” He stands, flicking his half-smoked cigarette into the rain.
“Jesse cries all the time,” I complain. Mommy does too, but it makes Laurent unhappy when she does.
“Not Jesse,” he murmurs. “Out there.”
I stand up and walk over to the bars, gripping onto two metal poles to stick my head through. Rain splatters my face and makes me shiver from the cold.
A scream.
I look down into the alley to see a girl who lives in the unit next door, running. She keeps looking behind her like the Boogieman is going to get her.
It’s then I see two people chasing her. Scary people. A man and a woman with hair white like snow. They snarl like mountain lions. She flings open the door below to enter the building and they go in after her.
“No fucking way,” Laurent hisses, grabbing my arm hard. “Get inside. Now.”
He’s too rough with me as he drags me into the house. It hurts, but I don’t tell him so. The screams aren’t as loud now. Laurent tosses his guitar onto the sofa and then yanks me into his arms to carry me. I cry out in surprise and he snaps at me.
“Quiet, Castilla!”
Hot tears form in my eyes at being scolded, but I clamp down on my bottom lip to keep my sob from escaping. He walks me into the room he shares with Mommy and sets me to my feet beside his trunk at the foot of their bed. The room is dark. Laurent once tacked a blanket over the window because he doesn’t like the sunshine waking him up in the morning. He leaves me in the middle of the room before he turns the overhead light on.
“Listen,” he says, kneeling in front of me. “You need to hide.”
“Why—”
“Goddammit, kid, just fucking listen,” he growls as he pulls the key necklace up over his head. “Get inside. You’ll be safe there.”
I whimper, worried about being stuck inside a trunk.
His brown eyes soften for a moment. “It’s probably nothing, but we can’t be too sure. Whenever my mother was afraid, she’d lock me up inside the trunk to keep me safe.”
“Did it keep you safe?”
“I’m here now, aren’t I?” He grins. “Come on. Be brave for me.”
“I’m not brave.”
“You are because you have to be.”
He unlocks the silver padlock and unhooks it from the metal latch. The lid creaks open and I get a whiff of something stinky. Like old books. Inside, it’s just big enough for me to fit.
“These were my mother’s,” he says as he retrieves a silk pouch from inside, leaving the trunk empty. “Hurry.”
The screams are louder. This one sounds like maybe it’s coming through the wall next door. She must have made it home, but it sounds like they might have caught up to her. A loud thump has Laurent cursing again. He presses a kiss to the top of my head as he slips the key necklace over my head and then picks me up. I tense up, not liking the idea of going inside, but he has an angry face on and I don’t like it, so I kneel down inside.
“Mercy be thy way,” he murmurs as he strokes my hair. “I’m sorry.”
I squish down inside the box upon his insistence, my heart beating louder than any drum I’ve heard. Music is in everything. Even inside my heart.
With a slam that makes me shriek, he closes the lid. The air inside quickly grows hot and sticky. I can’t stretch out my legs or arms. Metal clanks together and then he clicks it locked.
“Don’t make a peep,” he murmurs.
The floor creaks as he walks away. I can hear him whispering Mommy’s name. Jesse starts crying loudly as Laurent says things to Mommy that I can’t hear.
“You put her where?” Mommy yells as she comes into their bedroom.
“Jesus Christ, Demi,” Laurent barks back. “I told you to keep your voice down.”
Mommy isn’t quiet, though. She calls Laurent terrible names and then beats on the trunk.
“Baby? You in there? Oh my God, Laur, where’s the fucking key?!”
Jesse screams louder, which makes me start to cry. I don’t like this. I don’t like what’s happening. I’m scared.
“You don’t understand,” Laurent says, his voice cracking.
“No,” Mommy cries out. “Are you high? What the fuck are you speeding on now? I told you if you used one more time, you were out of here!”
“Demi,” Laurent growls. “Just fucking listen.”
“Give me the key.”
“Demi—”
“GIVE ME THE FUCKING KEY!”
“Demi—”
His words are cut off when she starts smacking him. I can hear it. It’s so loud. Jesse is screaming louder than ever before.
“Let go of me!” Mommy hisses.
“Just fucking stop and listen.”
“Where’s the key?”
“It doesn’t matter because there are goddamn vampires next door—”
“Vampires? Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
“Dammit, Demi. That’s what these are for.” A pause filled only by Jesse’s cries. “Protection.”