Chapter 5 - The Gray Rabbit At two in the morning, Grant called Marisol.
She answered immediately.
“Is Lily okay?”
“She’s asleep.”
A pause.
Then Grant asked:
“Has Vivian ever made Lily kneel before?”
Silence.
That silence was his answer.
“Marisol?”
“I don't know what you want me to say.”
“The truth.”
Marisol sighed.
“She sometimes made Lily sit facing the wall.”
“How long?”
“Ten minutes.”
Grant gripped the kitchen counter.
“She’s three.”
“I know.”
“What else?”
“She took away toys.”
“Which ones?”
Marisol hesitated.
“The gray rabbit.”
Grant froze.
“What rabbit?”
“Bunny. Lily's favorite.”
Grant remembered it.
He had bought it when Lily was a baby.
He had not seen it in months.
Marisol told him where she had hidden it.
Grant opened the linen closet.
Behind a stack of towels was the gray rabbit.
One ear was bent.
Grant held it against his chest.
“Why did you hide it?”
“Vivian threw it away twice.”
Grant closed his eyes.
“Anything else?”
Marisol's voice became quieter.
“She threw away Lily's drawings.”
“Why?”
“Because Lily made mistakes.”
Grant sat down.
Then Marisol said:
“She also threw away the photograph of Lily's mother.”
Grant looked toward the stairs.
His late wife had died when Lily was fourteen months old.
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He had always believed grief was the worst thing Lily had inherited.
Now he wondered whether he had allowed something worse to grow inside his home.
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