When I understood that my child was gone, truly gone, the sound that tore out of me was barely human.
People outside cried out. "Someone's going to die in there!"
Bernard had still been seething, but the shout made him turn. The blood pooling under the door drained the color from his face.
He grabbed the nearest person, shaking them. "The key! Go get the key, NOW!"
Ivy rushed forward. "Bernard, I know where it is. I'll get it!"
Before she left, she paused at the small window and looked in at me.
The look on her face was pure, undisguised triumph. A grin so vicious it twisted her features.
After she left, Bernard stood rigid, brow knotted, glancing again and again through the window at me. I was barely breathing.
Minutes passed. When Ivy still hadn't returned, he erupted. "Where is she?! Someone go find out why that key isn't here yet!"
"And the rest of you, cut the power! Get an ambulance here NOW!"
He watched them scatter in every direction. Something flickered behind his eyes. Pain, maybe.
The power had barely been off a minute when Ivy came running back, tears streaming down her face. "Bernard, the key... the key is gone..."
The blood left his face entirely.