The sun is out now and the living room is bright. Mommy and Daddo think I’m still sle eping because I’m still on the cushions on the floor in Grandma’s living room. They’re in the kitchen, talking. Milky is panting. I snuggle him close. I’m a mess, Mommy says. Yeah, me too. We can’t go back. We actually cannot go back to our house. We’re gonna have to eventually. You’re not listening. We cannot go back to the house. Ursula... If you’d seen it. I believe you. Do you? Yes. Honest to God. On Bela’s life. Jesus, don’t say that. I hear a chair creak and I close my eyes. Is Daddo leaning back in the chair to look into the living room to make sure I’m sle eping? Do you think it wants to hurt her? Daddo asks. I mean... how can I have any idea what it wants? Mommy says. What does a tiger want? What does a snake want? Then we’ll move out right now and sell the house, Daddo says. Mommy makes a sound like she’s frustrated. It’ll suck, Daddo says. But what else can we do? We should burn it down. What? If you’d seen it. Really? Burn it down? Nobody can go back into that house. Urs. I need you to understand something. Okay? Yes. Of course. I need you to understand that reality, for us, for the three of us, is changed now by what I saw sitting on Bela’s bed. They don’t talk for a while.
Milky pants. I put a finger to my lips to tell him to ke ep quiet. This is terrible, Daddo says. Now you’re getting it. I got it from the start. We’ll need to buy a house without any money from selling ours. Jesus, what the fuck are we going to do? Road trip, Daddo says. Russ. Why not? Reality, like you said. All gone now. Why fight it? Let’s get a camper. Hit the road. Leave it all. This is an opportunity. They don’t talk for a while again. I look to the couch. Grandma Ruth is standing beside the couch. I didn’t know she was there. She’s listening too. How long can we stay here? Daddo asks. I don’t know, Mommy says. Your mother will understand, Daddo says. You’re not listening. I don’t want to tell anyone about what I saw. I don’t want to ever think about it again. Okay, but, it’s all we’re thinking about. And while I couldn’t be more sorry that you saw this... we have to think of Bela. I mean, shit, Ursula, school starts soon. You think I don’t know that? I gotta talk to work, Daddo says. What are you gonna say? I don’t know. Did you grab your computer? I didn’t. Fuck, Russ. Yeah. I imagine there are a lot of things we’re gonna want to go back for. No. Do you hear me? No. I’ll go alone. Without Bela. During the day. I can ask Mark to go with me. They go quiet again. How about this, Daddo says. How about we give it a couple days.
Whatever is going on, it just happened. And we’re acting like we’re supposed to have all the answers at once. You need an exorcist, Grandma says. Mommy and Daddo make the sounds people do when they realize someone was listening. Now, don’t interrupt me, Grandma says. And I don’t give a shit who hears me say it. What the two of you are talking about... you need to get it out of the house and out of your lives. Ruth, Daddo says. I said do not interrupt me, and I am not done. There’s a little girl pretending to sle ep on the living-room floor. You think you’re scared, Ursula? Imagine all you’re feeling and tag on an unhealthy dose of realizing your parents can’t protect you like you thought they could. Bela? Daddo calls. I don’t answer. You sound insane, Mommy says. You know that’s not true, Grandma says. Either what you’re talking about is real or it isn’t. If it’s not, you’ve gone mad. And if it is? Then you need an exorcist. You need someone who understands what to do about the problem you have at home. Mommy and Daddo don’t answer. Grandma says, Bela. Get up and come sit on the couch, please. Grandma would like to speak to you a minute. I push my sle eping blanket aside and get up and me and Grandma put the cushions back on the couch. Mommy and Daddo come to the living-room entrance. Mom, Mommy says, there’s nothing to talk to Bela about. Nothing? Grandma says. We’ll just see about that. We sit together on the couch. Bela, she says. I’m going to need real answers from you, okay? I’ve been listening to your parents talk for some time about what was going on in your house, but I need to hear from you now. Okay? Okay. It’s all right to be nervous. You’ll learn soon enough in life that everybody’s nervous about something and it’s the ones who do the things they need to do anyway who end up getting the most out of it. Okay? Okay. Very good. Now— Mom, Mommy says. Now, Grandma Ruth says. How many times did you see the thing your mommy saw in your bedroom? How many? I don’t know. Okay. I didn’t think you would have a solid answer. But... more than once? Yeah. A hundred? I don’t know.
But maybe a hundred? Yeah. Mommy gasps. Are you serious? Daddo says. Bela? There’s no right or wrong answer, Grandma says. That’s enough, Mommy says. Grandma Ruth slams her hand on the couch and I’ve never seen her do that before. This is your daughter, Grandma says. And if you can’t talk about whatever this is with her, then you’ve got bigger problems than whatever you saw in her bedroom. Now, Bela... Yeah. Has this thing ever talked to you? Yeah. And what did it say? Mommy and Daddo look at me. Their eyes are really big. She talks sometimes. She? Grandma asks. Yeah. Other Mommy. Grandma looks surprised at this. Really, Grandma says. Okay. It’s best that everything is out in the open. And that means everything. Why do you call her Other Mommy, Bela? Because that’s what she told me to call her. Jesus, Daddo says. Mommy just stares at me. Wide-eyed. What else did she say to you? Grandma asks. She asks me something. What? Daddo says. What does she ask you? I don’t wanna say it out loud. What is it, dear? Grandma says. It will help if you tell us. Perhaps quite a bit. She asks if she can go into my heart. Mommy puts a hand over her own heart. You phoned the police? Grandma asks. Of course, Daddo says. And you’re certain it wasn’t an intruder? Yes, Daddo says. Mommy puts her other hand over her mouth.
An intruder in a costume, perhaps? Grandma asks. I mean, Daddo says. I mean, anything’s possible. Even likely, Grandma says. Even that. She looks to Mommy, but Mommy isn’t looking back. Grandma talks to her anyway: This is why you need to call in an expert. Because if this is not a person... then no police can help you.