Someone Else’s Life(68)

“I . . .” Serena looked up. “I can’t. I can’t go to jail. I need my son. He’s the only thing I have left to live for. I’ll die without him.”

“Serena . . .” Annie took a careful breath as a sense of doom washed over her. She had to leave. Now, before Serena sucked her back into her delusions. Annie reached out a hand to grab Marley’s collar, and taking another breath, she got ready to ram her way past Serena and out the front door. But before she could, the lights went off, plunging them into darkness. They’d lost power, just like her father had predicted.





42


Annie let go of Marley’s collar and tapped her cell phone, which sent an eerie glow out into the darkened Ohana. She had no bars. Whenever they lost power, the Wi-Fi went down, but she’d always had cell service before. Were the cell towers out too? Brody was out in this storm in his car, stuck on Kuhio Highway. All she wanted at that moment was to hold Finn close and to have Brody come home to them in one piece.

She suddenly realized that the Ohana was quiet. Too quiet. Where was Serena? She turned on the flashlight on her phone and shone it around her. When the beam swung to where Serena had been standing before the lights went out, Annie’s heart jumped into her throat. Serena wasn’t there. Marley growled deep in his throat, causing Annie to sweep the light across the Ohana. Goose bumps broke out all over her arms. There were eyes watching her. She could feel them. Feel them following her every move. Her breath hitched, and then she held it, straining her ears for any sound, any movement.

“Serena?” Annie’s voice drifted out into the darkness. “Where are you?”

Silence met her and she swallowed. A whisper ran down her spine, and then Marley barked, a warning sound. Annie’s body reacted before her mind. She jumped to the left off the couch, sensing a sudden motion to her right. Catching herself, she swung her light in that direction and found Serena standing there, her eyes burning and a bottle of wine in her hands.

“Oh my god, did you just try to hit me with that?” Disbelief tinged Annie’s words. Her mind scrambled to catch up with what her body already knew.

Serena didn’t say anything, only bore down on Annie again. She raised the bottle, her face twisted so that Annie barely recognized her. With a scream, Annie scrambled out of the way, her cell phone falling from her hands. Marley launched himself at Serena, and they fell to the ground. The wine bottle shattered as it hit the tile floor, sounding like a gun going off. Annie’s leg stung, and the smell of red wine permeated the Ohana. She rasped for breath, watching with horror from the dim light of the phone flashlight as Serena tried to push Marley off, kicking her legs.

With a scream, Annie ran forward. “Don’t you kick him.”

She focused all her attention on Serena, trying to pin her down. But Serena thrashed as Marley snarled, lunging for her with bared teeth whenever Serena tried to get up. Annie threw herself on top of the woman. Instinct took over and she fought the other woman, but Serena got the upper hand and grabbed Annie’s head with both hands. Annie gasped for air as she tried to stop Serena from slamming her head into the ground.

With a growl, Marley clamped his mouth around one of Serena’s arms, forcing her to release Annie. Serena shrieked.

Annie scrambled up and swung her fist. It connected with Serena’s face, the loud smack stinging her hand and making her wince. Brody had taught her how to punch once, and now Annie was so glad she’d paid attention. Serena gave a cry of pain and crumpled to the ground, as limp as a jellyfish. Annie grabbed Marley’s collar and hauled him off Serena.

Harsh breathing filled the Ohana, and then Serena started weeping. Annie ran for her phone, scooped it up off the floor, and aimed it in Serena’s direction. Serena squinted in the sudden glare, throwing up an arm to shield her eyes. Blood ran down her face from her nose, and her tears mingled with it, making her look gruesome. Annie fought the urge to offer her a tissue, reminding herself that this woman had just tried to kill her—or at the very least, knock her out. Before she could figure out what to do, Serena started talking. But her voice was different, robotic, emotionless.

“I couldn’t take it when Johnny cried. It was like a knife to my heart, and the more he cried, the more frantic I was to make him shut up. If Danny was home, he’d take him and leave the house so that I got some peace. But the morning my son died, Danny had an early meeting. Johnny had been fussing all night and neither of us got any sleep. Danny tried to soothe him before he left, but Johnny wouldn’t stop screaming.”

Annie’s breath caught. She knew Serena was about to tell her what had really happened, and her heart wept for the infant.

“I don’t remember what happened next. I told Danny that I woke up and found him so still in his crib. But I keep having this vision, as if I was watching a dream or watching someone else. And this other woman couldn’t take Johnny’s screams anymore. This other me picked up the pillow that was on the rocking chair in his room. This other me walked calmly to his crib and gently, oh so gently, placed the pillow over his face. He kept screaming. And I watched as this other me pressed down until there was no more screaming. There was only quiet—peaceful, glorious quiet.”

Silent tears ran down Annie’s cheeks. Poor Johnny. Her heart was tearing, as if Johnny were her son. Oh god, had Johnny been her son?

“Then the real me came back. The real me looked down at my baby in my crib, saw the way he wasn’t moving, and the real me started screaming. This me called Danny, hysterical. He came home as fast as he could as I stayed by my baby’s side, hoping he would wake up and start screaming again. But he didn’t. He stayed quiet, so still and quiet.”