Chapter 1 - Give It Back
"Daddy, I can't breathe!"
Julian Ward heard his daughter's cry before he reached her bedroom.
He pushed open the door and found ten-year-old Lena clawing at the sheets, her chest fighting for air.
His wife stood beside the bed, holding Lena's breathing mask above her head.
"Meredith. Put it back."
"She doesn't need it every minute," Meredith said.
"PUT IT BACK!"
Julian crossed the room, took the mask, and secured it over Lena's face the way the respiratory therapist had taught him.
The machine hummed steadily, but his daughter's breaths were shallow and frightened.
He kept one hand behind her shoulders while he called 911 with the other.
"My daughter uses prescribed breathing support," he told the dispatcher.
"Someone removed it. She's struggling."
"Stay on the line, sir."
Across the room, Meredith folded her arms.
"You're making this sound worse than it was."
Julian stared at her.
"She was asking you for help."
"She was being dramatic."
Something in him snapped.
He slapped Meredith, then hit her again when she stumbled against the reading chair.
The moment he saw Lena flinch, his anger turned sickeningly cold.
He had frightened the child he was trying to protect.
"I shouldn't have done that," he said, backing away.
Meredith held her jaw, stunned.
Julian turned back to Lena and stayed beside her until the paramedics arrived.
He told them exactly what he had witnessed and told the responding officer exactly what he had done.
At the hospital, once Lena was breathing more comfortably, she caught his sleeve.
"Dad?"
"I'm here, sweetheart."
"She took my doctor's letter, too."
"What letter?"
Lena's eyes filled.
"The one that said I wasn't supposed to get worse like this."
Julian looked toward the empty doorway.
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Until that moment, he had believed he was dealing with one terrible act.
Now he wondered how long the danger had been living in his house.
