Chapter 9 - My Mother's VoiceWe opened the basement door.
The smell hit me first.
Damp wood.
Old medicine.
And something metallic.
My husband turned on his flashlight.
At the bottom of the stairs stood an old wooden chair.
Beside it was a tape recorder.
The voice came from there.
“Please…”
My mother's voice.
Again.
“Please come home.”
I pressed play.
The recording changed.
A younger version of my father's voice appeared.
“You promised me one daughter.”
My mother answered:
“I gave you one.”
“No.”
“You gave me Lena.”
Silence.
Then my mother whispered:
“She is not the one.”
The tape ended.
I couldn't breathe.
My husband looked at me.
“What does that mean?”
I stared at the recorder.
Then another tape began playing by itself.
My mother's voice sounded terrified.
“I know what you're doing.”
My father's voice answered:
“You signed the agreement.”
“I was desperate.”
“You wanted Lena cured.”
“Yes.”
“And I gave you the solution.”
My mother began sobbing.
“No sacrifice was supposed to be permanent.”
My father's voice became colder.
“Everything has a price.”
Then came a noise.
A child's scream.
I dropped the recorder.
“Turn it off!”
My husband couldn't move.
The basement lights suddenly flickered.
A figure appeared at the end of the hallway.
An old woman.
My mother.
She looked exactly as I remembered her.
Older.
Thinner.
But alive.
I whispered:
“Mom?”
She raised her head.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“You came back.”
I ran toward her.
She grabbed my shoulders.
“Listen to me.”
Her voice trembled.
“Your father wasn't the one who made the deal.”
“Then who did?”
She looked behind me.
Straight at my husband.
May you like
And whispered:
“His mother.”
