Chapter 4 - Siren in the Distance
I threw the glass dispenser with everything I had left.
It struck Daniel square in the collarbone, shattering on impact. Thick amber soap exploded across his shirt and the floor. He cursed violently, slipping on the slick liquid as he reached for my wrist. His fingers clamped down around my forearm like iron bands, wrenching my arm backward to tear the phone from my grasp.
“Give it here, you bitch!” he hissed, his face inches from mine. I could smell the stale coffee and burnt tobacco on his breath.
I didn't let go. I bit down hard onto the meat of his thumb.
Daniel shrieked, recoiling and striking me across the jaw with the back of his free hand. The blow rattled my skull, sending black spots dancing across my vision. But as I fell back against the tub, my finger hit the speaker toggle on the screen.
“Dispatch to all available units,” the operator’s voice boomed out through the speaker, crisp, loud, and chillingly official. “Suspect Daniel Bennett, white male, thirty-two years old, actively assaulting a female in active labor at 4410 Ridgecrest Road. Units are on scene perimeter.”
Daniel froze, his hand still raised to strike again.
In the dead silence that followed, a distinct, rising wail pierced the night air from the bottom of our long gravel driveway.
Patricia’s face drained of color. The arrogant sneer vanished, replaced by sheer, naked panic. “Daniel... they’re here. How are they here already?”
“Shut up!” Daniel spun toward the hallway window. The strobing flashes of red and blue light were already slicing through the drawn blinds in the master bedroom, painting the white walls in ominous pulses of crimson.
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“Get the papers,” Patricia hissed, grabbing his arm, her composure completely shattered. “Get the papers and burn them in the sink! If they find the notary seals, we’re done!”
Another contraction seized me, so violent and low that my body involuntarily began to bear down. I couldn't stop it. “Sarah...” I sobbed into the floor. “The baby’s coming. Right now.”
