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She nodded

“Don’t come out,” he said, and then he pressed into her hands the redheaded doll she’d dropped in the kitchen after she broke the ashtray and rushed into the closet Too frightened to retrieve her, she’d left Velvet where she had fallen, and she’d been so upset because the doll had been a gift frootten Velvet, but one day he’d simply shown up with her, and she was hers, only hers

“You stay in here No matter what”

Holding the doll close, clenched between her knees and chest, she nodded again

He shifted, stiffening as an angry shout rattled the walls around them It was her name that dripped ice down her spine; her name that was shouted so furiously

A small whimper parted her lips and she whispered, “I just wanted a cookie”

“It’s okay Remember? I promised I’d keep you safe forever Just don’t make a sound” He squeezed her shoulder “Just stay quiet, and when Iwhen I get back, I’ll read to you, ’kay? All about the stupid rabbit”

All she could do was nod again, because there had been tiotten the consequences But if she stayed quiet, she kneas coht Toh he would tell her he was

He lingered for a moment and then he eased out of the closet The bedroo her tearstained face into it A button on Velvet’s chest poked at her cheek

Don’t make a sound

Mr Henry started to yell

Don’t make a sound

Footsteps punched down the hall

Don’t make a sound

Flesh s hit the floor, and Miss Beckybetter, because she was suddenly shouting, but in the closet the only sound that mattered was the fleshy whack that ca silently into the doll