The Weight of Shadows by Alison Strobel

Author:Alison Strobel
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2010-05-06T22:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

Joshua paused, frowning. There it was again. The last time he’d heard it he’d thought it was his imagination, or the children outside. But this time he was sure the shriek he heard was next door.

The skin on his neck prickled. He’d gotten a bad vibe when Rick and Kim had left. Something about the look in Rick’s eyes gave him a check in his spirit. He’d acted friendly enough, though he’d made it clear he didn’t want to sit around talking for long. When the security door closed after them Maddie had finally come out from behind him, saying, “I don’t like that man.” Joshua had almost admonished her for such an uncharitable comment about someone she barely knew, but then he remembered something Lara had said once about never ignoring a child’s instinct. “I know what you mean,” he’d said instead.

He knew, he just knew, it was Kim he’d heard and that Rick had hit her. His stomach clenched and he forced himself to leave the bedroom and go back into the living room where he turned on the television. He saw Maddie on the floor, coloring in a notebook, and made a note to keep her from his bedroom whenever possible.

He set about making dinner, but his thoughts kept returning to his neighbors. What am I thinking, ‘just keep Maddie from the bedroom’? She sleeps in there. And shouldn’t you do something about it? You’re not just going to let him do that to her, are you? His thoughts were so far from his task he fumbled the vegetable peeler three times. What should I do God? That poor woman—and pregnant! Though not for long if her fiancé keeps that up. Oh, God, what should I do?

Maddie’s voice snapped him from his prayer. “Daddy, what’s for dinner?”

He took a deep breath, refocused his attention on the vegetables in front of him. The thought of eating fifty feet from the source of the shrieking made him ill. “I’ve changed my mind, I don’t want to cook. Let’s go out.”

When Joshua and Maddie returned from dinner, the hallway and apartment were silent. He opened the door and made a beeline for the bedroom to check for neighbor noise, but even an ear to the wall revealed nothing. His eyes fell on Maddie’s bed and he frowned. I need to get her sleeping in her own room.

During her bath, Joshua broached the subject. “So what do you think of moving your bed into your bedroom tonight?”

Maddie shook her head. “Nuh-uh. I like sleeping in your room.”

He smiled. “I like it, too, but that awesome pink room is just going to waste.”

“No it’s not. I play in there all the time.”

True. “Well, regardless, we need to move you back in there pretty soon, okay sweetie?”

She sighed, swirling the water with a small rubber cow. “But I don’t want to. I’m afraid of it.”

Joshua thought. “Well, how about if I slept in there with you a few times?”

Maddie grinned. “You can’t fit

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.