Golden Cage Mommy Mutiny (Elyse) novel Chapter 62

When we got to the cemetery, Mom and Dad laid the little eraser, the cookies, and the smartwatch

out in front of my headstone.

“Penny, this is the last time Mom is coming to see you.”

“These are the things your friends from preschool picked out for you, and the watch you wanted

more than anything.”

“This time Mom didn’t break her promise.”

I pressed my lips together and tried to slip the watch onto my wrist, but I couldn’t. It just wouldn’t

stay on my wrist at all.

Dad reached out and touched my picture on the headstone.

“Penny, I’m sorry.”

It seemed like they still had more to say, but the officers were already starting to hurry them along.

“Let’s go. It’s time to head back.”

Mom and Dad stood up, and the officers turned to leave as well.

But just as everyone was about to walk away, Mom suddenly threw herself forward and slammed

her head into my headstone.

“Honey!”

Dad shouted, and the officers spun around and ran back when they heard the impact.

“Get her to the hospital. Now!”

I could feel Mom’s life slipping away bit by bit. It was like she could see me now.

She was even smiling at me.

She’d clearly decided she was going to die. She’d hither forehead right against the sharp edge of the stone, and blood streamed down in thin red lines that wouldn’t stop.

“Penny… Mom’s coming to be with you.”

I don’t want you to be with me!

Dad knelt on the ground, clutching Mom and sobbing, and it looked like he was about to follow her

and kill himself too.

But this time the officers were ready for that.

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The second Dad moved, two of them tackled him to the ground and pinned him there.

Mom died despite all their efforts to save her.

I was so angry I wanted to leave, to stop following them, but a moment later Mom came rushing toward me. Suddenly I was in her arms, wrapped up in her hug.

She held me as tightly as she could. “Penny, my Penny, Mom can finally see you.”

“Have you forgiven Mom yet? I’m sorry. It was all my fault. In my next life I’ll work myself to the bone to make it up to you. Please say something to me, okay?”

“My Penny…”

She was crying so hard that my shirt was soaked through.

I balled my hands into tiny fists. “I don’t forgive you! I wanted you to stay alive! If you’re dead, what happens to my little brother?”

Mom froze, then shook her head as she cried. “Mom just couldn’t go on.’

“Penny, I missed you too much.”

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I bit down on my lip and didn’t answer her again. Instead, I drifted along with the officers back to the police station.

Dad was locked up in a holding cell, and on his very first day the other men inside started bullying

him.

I was furious, but I couldn’t even lay a finger on their clothes.

Soon, Dad was brought in for questioning.

He confessed to every detail the police asked about and refused to call any of it an accident. Instead, he said,

“I couldn’t stand the sight of her. I cared more about my son than my daughter, and I threw her into the washer on purpose and hit the start button.”

“Just hurry up and convict me. A monster like me doesn’t deserve to live.”

One of the officers snorted.

“You really think we’re going to buy that? We know how to do our jobs. The freshest prints on the washer’s controls were your wife’s. She was the one who hit the start button.”

“But your negligence also indirectly led to your daughter’s death. You’re still responsible.”

Dad was sent to prison, where he drifted through each day like a zombie.

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He would stare at the wall and mumble, “You’re all so cruel. How could you leave me here alone, clinging to life? I want to die too.”

“But I don’t even have the freedom to die anymore.

Once the guards realized he was suicidal, they started watching him like hawks.

That made Dad the safest person in the whole place.

Mom hovered nearby and whispered another apology.

“I’m sorry, honey. I just missed our daughter too much. I’d rather die to atone for what I’ve done.”

“I’m sorry to our little boy too. I wasn’t a good mom to him either… I’m leaving him in your hands

now.”

It was like Dad suddenly heard her for real. He let out a bitter laugh.

“‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry.‘

“Why is it always ‘I’m sorry‘? Is it really that hard to do right just once?”

Mom froze.

I pressed my lips together and looked at her too.

Yeah, I didn’t want any more “I’m sorry” either. Was it really that hard to do right just once?

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