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some sign of lifean outside light, the kitchen lamp, even the green glow of the digital clock on the micro. But this was more than the absence of a light. In the headlights the windows seemed to gape like sightless eyes, stripped of curtains and blinds. And within, naked walls. The place looked like it had died. |
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Calvin did not drive around back but stopped at the front wall. He got out, still not clear why they were here. |
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There was no sound but the static charge of crickets. The light of a full moon white-washed the front lawn. |
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Terry headed up the walk with a kind of slow deliberation. She stopped once to take in the dead dogwood. In the cold moonlight it looked like an X-ray. |
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"Terry, let's not torture ourselves." He took her arm. "Come on, let's go" |
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But she pulled away and dug into her pockets for the key. She looked driven. Obsessed. |
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She unlocked the front door and he followed her through. |
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It was as if he had entered a vacuum. The emptiness sucked his breath. Nothing stirred. Nothing broke the blankness. |
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Calvin made a move to turn on the dining room chandelierthe only remaining fixturebut Terry stopped him. The moonlight seepage would guide her. |
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She moved through the downstairs rooms with her arms wrapped tightly to her chest. The only sound was of their feet across the oak floorboards. |
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In the family room Calvin said, "Terry, why are we here? What's the point?" |
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Her eyes were wide. "I don't know . . ." And there was nothing in her face to say she did. |
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He followed her upstairs, trying to fight back the memories . . . Matty diapered and climbing the stairs for the first time, Matty bounding down on Christmas morning, his feet stuffed in Kermitthe-Frog slippers, Matty sitting on the bottom step trying to teach Daisy to talk . . . |
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At the top Terry turned into his room. Calvin again caught her arm. "Don't do this to yourself." |
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Again she pulled away, not with anger but an iron determination. |
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The room was like a vacant cube. All the gaudy monsters had |
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