I locked my wife in the pantry under the stairs

will ever hear from me in that room.

“My child will know your name as a warning.”

She recoils.

Then she is gone.

Months pass.

Emily gives birth in spring, in a hospital room full of light, with her sister on one side and a nurse on the other. I am there because Emily allows it. Not beside her face. Not holding her hand. In a chair near the wall, present continue reading …