The Mother

The young mother lovingly laid her infant in its crib. She kissed her hand and placed it against the child’s cheek, pausing for one last smiling glance at the sleeping baby. She hated walking away, but knew it was best for the baby to sleep on its own, without her own selfish need for the comfort of the warm child against her bosom. The mother gently closed the door behind her as she stepped into the brightly lit hallway. Her husband wouldn’t be home for a few more hours, so she figured that she could fold some of the laundry that had been piling up while she caught up on some of her favorite tv shows. She grabbed a diet soda out of the refrigerator and sat down on the comfortably worn old couch- putting a coaster carefully under her soda can. She reached for the remotes and the basket of laundry at the same time, pulling the basket into her lap and turning on the tv. As she flicked through the channels she took a sip of her soda. One of three small dogs that she had rescued from the pound (years before even thinking of having a child) jumped into her lap, knocking over the basket of clothing. She scolded the small animal, but picked up the basket and called the creature back into her lap. Scratching the dog’s ears added one more thing to keep her hands busy. She always stayed busy these days. Between feedings, diaper changes, naps, dog walks, cooking meals, cleaning up after meals, and various other household chores that required regular maintenance, these few moments for herself were hard to come by. Secretly, she enjoyed these tedious labors of love. This wasn’t the life she had originally chosen for herself, but she felt more than fulfilled. Sure, she yearned for her youthful figure and a sense of accomplishment that one would get from a full time job, but the happiness she felt when she thought of her young daughter and kind husband were all that she needed these days. She remembered suddenly to turn on the baby monitor that she kept near her at all times. She could hear the lull of waves coming from the sound machine in the baby’s room. It kept the baby from waking at every little bump and thud that was made throughout the house. It also made it hard to hear the baby crying unless the monitor was on. The young mother relaxed into her routine, knowing that she could hear anything that might happen in the child’s room. It relieved her of some of the worry that comes with having your first child, but never relieved her of all of it. She folded a onesie in her lap and put it in a stack of like items to the side. She turned up the volume on the tv and reached for another article to fold.

The baby breathed heavily with the peace only an infant’s innocence will allow. It was the kind of sleep that most adults wish they could have, if only for one night. Across the room, the window slowly and quietly slid up and open. A man’s large gloved hand pressed against the window sill. The man pulled himself into the room and landed quietly on the floor. He paused, listening to be sure that no one was coming. He had been planning this for a long time, and knew what it would mean to get caught. He would have to kill the mother, and that could mean a struggle and evidence left behind. No, this would be much easier if he could sneak in and out undetected. He licked his lips in anticipation as he looked into the crib. His eyes widened, and he stuck his hand down into his pants- the excitement was nearly more than he could bear. After a few moments, he stopped himself and continued his task. There would be plenty of time for that and more, later. He stepped forward, reaching into the crib, and looked down to see a dark stain expanding across the carpet below. His own hands grasped his throat where the blood poured out uncontrollably. Within seconds, his knees buckled and he fell to the floor. The baby slept on, blissfully unaware of the gruesome scene that had taken place beside her.

The mother looked down at the body of the man that had tried to harm her child. She gripped a large kitchen knife in her right hand. She held the knife so tightly that her palm began to ache from the pressure. She used her foot to turn the man over. He was a white male, someone she didn’t recognize, but she would later find out that he lived only a few houses away. She spit in his face as she watched the last flicker of life go out of his eyes. This wasn’t her first taste of death. She’d lost her first child within the first few months of pregnancy, but where she felt love and regret at the loss of her baby, she felt a sense of relief and pride looking at the empty shell that lay before her now.

The sound of the television had nearly kept her from hearing the alarm chirp that alerts her when a door had been opened in the secluded house. In fact, it was the television that had kept the man from hearing his own error chime throughout the living room. The alarm panel let her know what window was open and it took her seconds to realize that someone had come in through the baby’s room. It took her a few more seconds to turn up the volume on the baby monitor and place it to her ear, listening to every creek and thud the man made as he lurked near the crib. After that, the hardest part had been deciding whether to use the hammer or the knife. She decided on the knife because it would be quicker and cleaner if she snuck up undetected. With all the practice at being quiet around her sleeping child, sneaking had been the easy part. She left the tv on, but turned out all of the other lights so that opening the door wouldn’t cause a stream of light to pour into the baby’s room upon entry. She slowly turned the knob, pulling the door towards her as she did it so that it wouldn’t click. She gently pushed it open, watching the man pull his hand out of his pants. Her eyes narrowed in disgust and everything inside her told her to scream and run at this monster in the dark. She controlled her emotions and kept silent as she crept across the room. The peaceful sound of waves continued as she gained on the man. Luckily he wasn’t too tall for her to reach. Sweat beaded on her breasts, centimeters from the midpoint of the man’s black hooded jacket. She took a slow, silent breath. As he leaned towards her child, she reached around the man with her knife-wielding right hand and delivered a slow, precise slice from left to right. His skin was tougher than she imagined it to be, but her knives weren’t as sharp as they should be either. She clenched her jaw as she cut through his jugular, letting a little smile flick across her face as she watched his knees give out. After she had been standing there a moment, sure that the monster was dead, she reared back and kicked his skull as hard as she could. Her toe hurt afterwards, but she reveled in the pain. She smiled again, with a sense of victory and again, pride. Her eyes bulged with a wild gleam in the dark. Somewhere deep inside, she was grateful she had not set the alarm, because it would not have allowed her the pleasure of killing the man who intended to harm her sleeping infant.

After regaining her composure, the mother remembered her sacred duty was to her child. She looked into the crib to check on the baby. A few drops of blood had spattered the pastel sheets and the back of the child’s pajamas. The mother shook her head in frustration and let air out of her nose slowly. She reached into the crib and pulled out the sleeping infant ever so gently. The child let out a little cry, annoyed that it had been woken up so shortly after being put to bed. The mother draped the baby across her left breast, placing its head on her shoulder. She then gently patted the child’s back as she stepped over the man’s body and towards the closet. She picked a pink footed outfit with a picture of a kitten on the front. The mother made soft shushing noises into the child’s ear as she placed her onto the changing table. She glanced nervously at the corpse behind her to be sure it had not moved, then she proceeded to change the child’s clothes and placed her into a comfortable position in the crook of her arm.

As they left the room, the mother whispered softly into the child’s ear, “I love you more than you’ll ever know,” and closed the door behind her.