A taste of The Silent Daughter
Danni made her way into the kitchen, the night wrapping around her like a darkened shroud, the fingers of cold finding their way onto her bare skin. Danni shivered, her whole body shaking, her teeth clicking together, sounding loud in the silent kitchen. Opening the cupboard door quietly, Danni grabbed a glass from the shelf and leaned over the sink, filling up her glass with tap water that was so cold it burned its way down her throat. Outside, she heard their dog Pooch barking into the wind. His sudden barks turned into a long mournful howl that touched Danni deep inside, making her feel melancholy, filling her with longing for something she couldn’t put words to.
Danni looked at the clock. Where had the time gone? The glass in her hand had warmed from the contact with her skin. She took a sip; it was lukewarm. Pooch still howled outside, and finally Danni decided to go and check if he was all right. She pulled the dressing gown tighter around her body, already knowing that it would be inadequate once she went out into the night.
Danni unlocked the front door, stepping over the threshold, the dim and dusty veranda light doing little to illuminate the night. She walked into the darkness and it was only after the door closed behind her that she realised that she had forgotten to click the lock into the open position. She was now locked out of the house.
Damn it!
She was cross at herself, not knowing how she was going to get back inside since she knew the house was locked up tight, she had done it herself, as she did every night. She would walk around to each and every window, locking out the world. She would have to try to rouse Joe from outside the house to let her back inside, but he was such a heavy sleeper, and the wind that she could hear whipping around would steal her voice and carry it away into the night. He would never hear her. She might be sharing Pooch’s bed for the rest of the night. Danni wanted to smile at the thought, but she was just too damn cold.
Pooch cried into the wind again and, deciding on a course of action, Danni gingerly walked over the uneven ground towards his doghouse. She rounded the corner of the house, the wind buffeting the length of her body, making her stagger against the force of it. Leaning into the blast of cold air, Danni made her way over to where the dog was howling mournfully.
Squatting down, trying to make herself as small a target for the wind as she could, she reached forward to touch the dog. Danni could see his wild eyes, the whites catching the faint moonlight, reflecting back at her. His head thrashing this way and that.
‘You okay, Pooch? What’s the matter? The wind scaring you too, huh? Least you didn’t lock yourself out of the house,’ she grumbled.
Pooch pushed his muzzle into her cold hand, licking it gently at first, then enthusiastically, simultaneously wetting and warming her hand. She let out a small laugh, unheard in the wild wind. She scratched him gently behind the ears, the warm creases in his skin giving her comfort. Danni put her hand against his collar and unclipped the chain. He yipped happily and as she stood he ran around her legs in a circle, threatening to trip her up in his excitement.
‘Settle, Pooch,’ Danni said, her voice carrying to the dog’s pricked ears. He bumped into her leg and she smiled, leaning down to pat him again.
Danni stood at the side of the house, near the doghouse, staring up at the cold stars glittering above her. Despite the frigid night, they looked beautiful, diamonds hung high in the inky sky. She sighed, her breath puffing out in front of her. The night air nipped at her exposed face, chilling it, making her lips feel stiff, unyielding. Danni had no idea how long she had been outside. Her phone was in the bedroom, resting unhelpfully on her bedside table. She sighed deeply. She had better try to wake Joe before she froze to death.
Bending into the wind, Danni, with Pooch at her side, walked slowly around the side of the house towards the back, where their bedroom was. Mia’s room was across the hall from her parents’ room. She had the biggest room out of the kids. Noah and Alexandra’s bedrooms were on the other side of the house. Maybe Alexandra would be easier to wake up than Joe, although all her family were heavy sleepers, just her luck. She remembered the conversation where Alexandra had brazenly called dibs on Mia’s room once she went to university. The almighty argument that it had caused. It was still a good two years away, but they had been talking about it at dinner one night and Alexandra had said that she wanted Mia’s room. Mia proceeded to tell her in no uncertain terms that a room swap would be over her dead body. Alexandra started to argue but Joe finished the girls’ bickering by bashing his fist on the table, something he rarely did. It silenced the girls and erased the bemused smiled from Danni’s face. She wondered what had got into her husband, but when she asked him about it later, he didn’t have an adequate answer for his behaviour.
Danni could hear the roaring wind, louder as she trudged closer to the back of the house. It seemed to be getting much louder, almost as if it was taking on a life of its own. She rounded the corner, and the wind seemed warm here somehow. Danni looked up at Mia’s window, and for a long moment, she couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing.
Suddenly she screamed her daughter’s name as she heard the great whoosh of the wind, felt its heat warming her frozen face.
The house was on fire!