When Darkness Loves Us

After she showered, she put on the clean housedress her mother had laid out. She examined herself in the mirror. Her face looked about the same. A few more lines around the mouth and eyes, maybe. Somehow she didn’t feel nearly as monstrous as she had the last time she was here. The smell of bacon frying came through from the kitchen. She joined her mother, wordlessly set the table, then sat down and waited.

“How’s Mary?”

“She’s fine. She’s happy, Momma.”

Her mother turned with fury in her eyes. “Don’t you dare talk of happiness to me. You. Living under the earth like a worm. Destroying all that Michael and Maggie had by taking their little girl like you did. You’re Satan himself.”

Sally Ann endured her mother’s venom. She knew it had to come out sooner or later, and was glad Cora could get it off her chest so soon. She stood up and put her arms around her mother as she stood at the stove. She felt the silent sobs shake her frail frame. Her mother had grown old. Very old.

“Oh, Sally Ann, why have you come back again? Just when a hurt has healed, you come back to pick it open again. Why do you do that?”

“I’ve come to see Michael.”

“I guess I knew that the moment I saw you at the door. Well, there’s the phone. Get it over with.”

The number was written on a list Cora kept on the wall. Sally dialed the number slowly, praying that Maggie wouldn’t answer the phone. She did.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Maggie. This is Sally Ann. May I speak to Michael, please?”

The phone bounced on the floor, and Sally Ann visualized Maggie’s open-mouthed shock. The idea gave her distinct pleasure.

“Hello? Hello, who’s this?” Michael.

“Hello, Michael. This is Sally Ann. Would you come to breakfast at Mother’s this morning?”

“Oh, my God . . .” the phone went dead.

Sally smiled, slowly hanging up the phone. “He’ll be right over, Momma.” Cora left the room. Sally heard the bedroom door close.

Michael pulled up to the front door in a cloud of dust, got out of the truck, and walked up the front steps. He paused for a deep breath, then opened the screen door and came in. “Sally Ann?”

“In the kitchen, Michael.”

He came in and sat down at the kitchen table. He was visibly trying to keep himself under control. “Where’s Mary, Sally Ann?”

She turned to look at him and he took in the black teeth, the scaly, thin skin, the ragged hair, and the arms so thin they were like little sticks. All his anger disappeared.

“I came back to tell you that you have three grandchildren.” His mouth fell open and he stared at her. “Three beautiful children, Michael. They play in the water and laugh and love. And they don’t believe in you.”

A new type of anger held him to his seat. The thought of three children in caves. What kind of a monster was this woman? Then he thought of Mary. Sweet Mary. Like a flower. She survived down there? But . . . who was the father? He laughed. “You’re insane, Sally. There’s no children. There’s just you and your twisted ways. I knew Mary. She was too fragile. She could never have survived down there.”

“You’re wrong, Michael, I survived. And your son survived.” Shock froze his face.

“My son?”

“Yes. Our

son. And now he and Mary have three children. I’m sorry I don’t have pictures of them for you.”

He jumped up and grabbed her skull and started to squeeze. He could feel her thin, brittle bones, and he just wanted to pop her head like a melon. “You monster! I’ll kill you for this!” His rage was born of fear, and didn’t last. His hands slipped from her head to rest on her shoulders, and he started to cry. She put a comforting hand on his face.

“It’s not so bad, Michael. They’re really very happy. It’s a whole different type of existence down there, but it’s not a bad life.”

“We looked for you,” he sobbed. “We searched for weeks. There are so damned many tunnels down there. We all got sick. We couldn’t believe that anybody could live down there. Oh, Sally Ann.” He sank to the floor and hugged her legs. “My soul ached to think you have been down there all those years. All those years I had given you up for dead. I locked you down there that day and didn’t know it. And I’ve lived with that guilt ever since.”

She stroked his hair. “It’s okay, Michael. I thought it wasn’t, but it is now. Everything is all right. Our son is a good man, and he’s a good father to the boys and a good husband to Mary.”

“When Mary was missing and Maggie told me it was you staying here with Mom, I didn’t believe her. I hit her. She makes me so angry sometimes. But I had to believe her when your Mom said the same thing, and the lock was broken off the door to the stairs. Our life hasn’t been the same since.” Sally Ann smiled slowly above his head. “How could you . . . ? How did you raise a child down there?”

“One has to do what one has to do, Michael. His name is Clinton.”

“My God. Will you take me to see them?”

“Of course, Michael. You won’t be able to really see them, it’s too dark. But I’ll take you to them, if you like.”