PART 2 – THE SOUND IN THE HALLWAY
The doorknob moved slowly, as if the person on the other side was hesitating or calculating whether the door was locked. My breath caught in my throat. I wanted to scream, but no sound came from my lips. My hands shook so violently that I almost dropped the phone.
For twelve years I had believed my greatest pain was the absence of my brother. For twelve years I had thought the past was behind me. But in that single night, as the rain lashed against the windowpanes, I realized I had lived in a lie for decades.
The latch clicked back into its starting position.
Silence.
A grave silence filled the hallway. I didn't dare to breathe. I stared at the gap under the front door through which the streetlamp's light poured. No shadow was to be seen anymore. Had this person run away? Or were they still standing out there, dead silent, waiting for me to make a mistake?
My thoughts wandered back to the red box on the table. That red box I had never noticed until an hour ago – or perhaps had seen without grasping its meaning. Mom had left it behind. But how could my brother, who had vanished without a trace for twelve years and hadn't even appeared at her funeral, know that this box was standing here?
I walked on tiptoe to the table. My fingers brushed over the smooth, dusty surface of the box. There was no lock, but the lid sat tightly, as if sealed with a special coating. My heart hammered against my ribcage like a wild bird in a cage.
“Never say that you found it,” my brother had said.
Those words echoed like an incantation in my head. Why wasn't I allowed to find it? Who was after me? And what had my father, the man revered by all, done in all the world?
Suddenly I heard the sound of heavy boots outside on the sidewalk. Step by step. Not running, but slow, purposeful, as if the person knew exactly where they had to go. The steps stopped directly outside my window.
Fear cut off my air. I had to act. I grabbed the red box, pressed it against my chest, and ran into the kitchen. That was the only room with a small back exit into the alley. But as I reached out for the doorknob, I heard a sound that made my blood freeze in my veins.
The sound of glass being gently pressed inward. Someone was already in the backyard.
And then the glass of the kitchen door shattered.
