Keep It in the Family

by John Marrs

I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THE ATTIC.

Carefully I press it hard into the wood until I have spelled out the words I will save them from the attic.

Not just any suitcase, but exactly the same shape and style as the seven used to hide the bodies of children in the attic of my home.

‘Are they all children?’ she asks. Again, I remain quiet. ‘How . . . how long has this . . . ?’ ‘More years than I care to remember.’

‘Call for help,’ he says. ‘It’ll take the nearest station about fifteen minutes to get people here.’

What’s your name?’ ‘Dave,’ he says. ‘I’m Debbie,’

before revealing that my grandfather and a group of close friends had ensured my parents could never hurt another child again.

‘Which is why we were duty bound. We brought him into this world so it was our responsibility to take him out of it.’

‘And do you have the results?’ he asks. I nod, and take out a white envelope from my handbag, sliding it across the bench to him. He glares at it with the intensity of a man whose past and future are about to collide.

Her lessons and her nurture of me will help me to protect Sonny. But I promise I won’t involve him in what I do like Debbie did with me. Not until he’s much older than he is now. Not until he is ready.