The Secrets We Keep by Nikki Lee Taylor

Author:Nikki Lee Taylor [Taylor, Nikki Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Magpie Creative Media
Published: 2021-01-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

Madelyn-May, 1997

'’What in Christ have you stupid girls gone and done?” Mom screamed from the doorway. “You’ve killed him! Oh my God and Jesus Christ! He’s dead. You really killed him.” She tore her eyes away from Daddy’s body, and stared at us. “Which one of you did this, and don’t you dare lie to me.”

“It was Madelyn-May,” Melody shouted, pointing an accusing finger in my direction. “It was her. She did it.”

I couldn’t stop staring at the blood spiraling out of the crevice in Daddy’s temple. It was soaking into the floral bedspread, turning it black like a cancer.

“Tell her, Madelyn-May,” Melody was shouting. “Tell her you did it. Tell her it was you who killed him.”

I tore my eyes away from the quilt, and glanced at my sister folded up the corner. All I could think was that she looked so much smaller than when we were crushing up the pills. “I did it,” I said flatly. “I did it, Mom. I killed Daddy.”

Without warning, Mom stepped in and slapped me hard across the face. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

The blow snapped my head back, and in the same moment it struck me she hadn’t asked Melody why she was naked from the waist down. “You knew, didn’t you?” I whispered. “All this time you knew what he was doing to us.”

“Don’t you dare talk about your daddy like that.” Her bangles bashed against each other as she pushed her hair back. “If anyone was doing anything wrong around here it was you girls, wearing skirts too small, and trying to get his attention all the damned time. What did you think would happen?”

“That’s not true. I hated him coming into my room. We all did and—”

She brought her hand down to slap me again, but I caught her wrist. “You knew, and you didn’t help us. Why didn’t you stop him?”

“You couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you? You needed his attention so bad, and oh, you got it alright, didn’t you? All three of you, and none of you ever stopped to think about me.”

I glanced over at Melody, but she refused to meet my eye.

“None of you ever cared about me in all of this,” she continued. “So long as you had him all to yourselves. And all this time, I’ve had to live knowing what was going on, and not once did any of you give a damn about me. You never once asked me to make him stop. Three little mice all blind to how I felt.”

“You can’t be serious,” I managed. “Have you lost your mind?”

She reached into her pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it with trembling hands. “I must be insane to have put up with all the shit that’s been going on behind my back. And now look what you’ve gone and done. How am I supposed to pay for the trailer now? That ever cross your stupid mind?”

“Didn’t Daddy have an insurance policy?” Melody asked quietly.

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