Making an Example Of

Just as Mom touched the keypad, Dad pressed his hand over hers and shook his head.

"Wait. They have a history of lying.

"They lied just now. Now they say they swear, but who knows whether they are lying again?"

Megan trembled with anger.

But she knew that if she exploded, I would be locked inside even longer.

"What do you want, then?"

Dad thought for a moment.

"Here is what we will do. Andrew will come with me to get his hand bandaged. His skin is broken, and infection is no joke.

"Megan will go eat dinner like a good girl. You have both done what you should. Tomorrow morning, I will let him out."

Andrew stiffened.

"Tomorrow morning? That long? Zack..."

Dad's gaze turned cold at once.

"Are you unhappy with my arrangement?"

Megan's tears fell hard. She pressed herself to the little window and comforted me.

"Zack, hold on a little longer. Tomorrow morning, I will come get you."

I nodded and whispered, "Okay."

But the tears would not stop.

Dad saw them. He shoved Megan away and leaned close.

"Hold them back.

"What are you crying for? Did I wrong you? I am doing this for all of you."

I jolted in fear and wiped my face messily.

"I will not cry. Zack will not cry. Dad, do not be angry."

Dad ignored me. He turned, grabbed Andrew, and left.

Their footsteps faded down the hall, and the world went quiet.

I curled into the corner. My stomach hurt as if a knife were twisting inside it.

I did not know how long passed before I closed my eyes in a daze.

In my dream, Dad opened the door and lifted me gently into his arms.

Mom, Andrew, and Megan stood around me, smiling happily together.

Then suddenly, it felt as if someone had shoved a red-hot piece of iron into my stomach.

The pain jolted me awake. I cried out.

I rolled on the floor like a fish with its tail crushed.

I tried to scream, but bloody foam bubbled in my throat.

Andrew and Megan woke up from the noise and rushed over.

"Zack? Zack, what is wrong?"

I forced my eyelids open, but everything before me was blurry.

"It hurts... Megan, it hurts so much!"

There was chaos outside the door. Megan ran back with a box of painkillers.

"Zack, take these. Once you take them, it will stop hurting."

I shoved the tablets into my mouth and chewed them dry.

The powder caught in my throat, and I coughed again.

Then I lifted my head and forced a smile through the crack under the door.

"Megan, it does not hurt anymore."

Megan's voice shook with tears.

"Silly Zack. Your face is white from pain. How much must it hurt?"

Andrew's eyes were red.

"Zack, do not be scared. I am getting you out right now."

He tried the keypad, muttering under his breath.

"It has to be Mom's birthday. No, wrong. Let me try Dad's..."

His voice grew more urgent, then panicked.

He entered the wrong code four times in a row.

On the fifth mistake, the alarm blared through the entire house.