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The days leading up to Monday crawled by, each hour stretching into an agonising wait for Lyla. She cleaned her room. She organised her toys. She practised her smile in the mirror until her cheeks hurt. She was ready to be the perfect friend.
When Monday finally arrived, the sky was a bruised purple, threatening rain. Elena stood by the window, her stomach in knots.
Diana’s sedan pulled into the driveway at exactly 3:00 PM. She didn't turn off the engine.
Elena opened the front door and walked out onto the porch. Her friend was already hurrying up the path, dragging a reluctant Leo by the hand. He was dressed in a stiff blue uniform, his backpack looking heavier than him. His eyes were red-rimmed, as if he’d been crying for the entire car ride.
Behind Elena, another figure emerged through the doorway.
Lyla stepped out. She was wearing her best dress, the one with the lace trim that she usually saved for special occasions. Her hair was clipped back with a bright red bow. She was vibrating with energy, her hands clasped behind her back to stop them from shaking.
"Leo!" the young girl chirped, her voice unnaturally high. "You're here! I saved the red truck for you!"
He flinched at the sound of her voice. He looked at Lyla with the wide, hunted eyes of a rabbit spotting a wolf. He took a step back, bumping into his mother’s legs.
Diana sighed, checking her watch. She didn't even look at her son. She thrust a piece of paper and a set of keys into Elena’s hands.
"Emergency numbers, the school timings, and his allergy pills, " she rattled off quickly. "He’s allergic to peanuts. Bedtime is eight. Don't let him watch scary movies; he gets nightmares. Also, since he’s here, he no longer needs the daycare, so pick him up at 12:30 p.m”
"Diana, wait," she said, glancing at Leo, who looked like he was about to bolt. "Maybe come in for a coffee? Settle him in?"
"I can't, Elena. The flight boards in two hours, and traffic is a nightmare," her friend groaned, backing away. She leaned down to Leo, gave him a quick, distracted kiss on the forehead, and turned to leave. "Be good, Leo. Listen to Elena. I'll call when I land and ask Leo to change into comfortable clothes."
She was gone in a whirlwind of perfume and efficiency.
Leo stood frozen on the porch. The wind rustled the trees. He stared at the empty driveway, his lower lip trembling.
Lyla took a step forward, her shadow stretching over him. "Leo? Do you want to see my room? I moved the dolls so they won't scare you."
He spun around, his fear turning into sudden, sharp defiance. "No!"
He pushed past Elena and ran into the house, his sneakers squeaking on the hardwood floor.
"Leo, wait!" Lyla called out, her smile faltering. She looked at her mother, confused. "I was being nice, Mumma."
"I know, baby," Elena said wearily. "Just give him time. He’s scared."
---
The tension in the house was thick enough to choke on.
For the next three hours, a game of cat and mouse played out in the hallways.
Lyla found Leo hiding in the guest room, unpacking his bag. She stood in the doorway, holding out a bag of gummy bears.
"I have gummies," she whispered. "The red ones are the best."
"I don't want them," he answered, his voice trembling. He turned his back to her, facing the wall.
She stepped closer. "Why not? They're sweet. Like me."
"Go away!" Leo shouted, spinning around. "I don't like you! You're weird! You aren’t sweet!"
Lyla froze. The rejection stung, sharp and hot. She didn't understand. She had cleaned. She had dressed up. She had shared.
"I'm not weird," she said, her voice dropping. "I'm your friend. I won’t act like I did that day."
"I don't want a friend!" he yelled. He grabbed a book from his bag and hurled it at her. It hit the doorframe with a bang.
Lyla didn't flinch. She just stared at him, her eyes darkening. "Yes, you do. You’re living in MY HOUSE," she yelled. "I'll come back later. When you're happier."
She retreated, but she didn't go far. She sat at the top of the stairs, hidden in the shadows, watching the guest room door. Waiting.
Leo saw her and closed the door. Inside, he sat scarcely, crying.
---
Dinner was a silent battlefield.
Elena had made spaghetti, hoping the comfort food would break the ice. But the only sound was the clinking of forks against ceramic plates.
Leo sat hunched over his plate, eating as fast as he could, refusing to look up. Lyla sat opposite him, her plate untouched. She was staring at him with an intensity that made Elena’s skin crawl.
"Leo, look," Lyla said suddenly. She held up a long strand of spaghetti. "It looks like a worm. Do you like worms?"
The boy stopped chewing. He looked at the noodle, then at her, and gagged. He pushed his plate away. "I'm not hungry."
"Leo, you have to eat, avoid Lyla," Elena said gently.
"I want to go to bed," he mumbled, his eyes filling with tears. "I want my mom."
"Your mom isn't here," Lyla said matter-of-factly. "She left you because you were being bad that day. But I'm here. I can be your family now.”
Elena slammed her hand on the table. "Lyla! That is enough. Leo is a guest. Leave him alone."
She looked at her mother, startled. "I was just telling the truth."
"Go to your room," The adult ordered, pointing a trembling finger at the stairs. "Now."
Lyla looked at Leo one last time. She mouthed the words, I win, then slid off her chair and walked slowly upstairs, her bare feet silent on the steps.
He let out a shaky breath. "Thank you," he whispered to Elena.
"It's okay, sweetie," Elena said, her heart aching for the boy. "You can finish dinner. She won't bother you."
---
Later that night, Elena checked on Leo. He was already asleep, curled into a tight ball under the covers, clutching a photo frame of his parents. She tucked the blanket around him, sadness pooling in her chest.
She walked across the hall to her daughter’s room. The door was slightly ajar. She pushed it open.
Lyla wasn't in bed.
Panic flared in her chest. "Lyla?"
She scanned the room. The toy chest was open. The bed was empty.
Then she saw the curtain move. Lyla was sitting on the window seat, looking out into the dark garden. She was holding the plastic arm she had kept under her pillow.
"Lyla? What are you doing?" Elena asked, stepping into the room.
She didn't turn around. "Watching."
"Watching what?"
"The shed," the child whispered. "I think the butterfly woke up, Mumma."
Elena shivered. "Lyla, come to bed. It's late."
She turned around. Her face was calm, eerily so. "Leo doesn't like spaghetti, Mumma. He didn't say thank you. That's rude."
"He was scared, Lyla."
"He's mean," The young girl stated, climbing down from the window. She walked to her bed, crawling under the covers. "But it's okay. He’s stuck here now. Like the butterfly. He can't fly away."
Elena tucked her in, her hands trembling. "Goodnight, Lyla."
"Goodnight, Mumma," she whispered. As her mother reached the door, Lyla spoke again.
"Mumma? If Leo tries to fly away... like a bird... will he fall down?"
She froze. "What?"
"Nothing," Lyla giggled, turning her face into the pillow. "Just a thought. Sleep tight."
Elena closed the door, her heart hammering. She leaned against the wall in the hallway, listening to the silence of the house. She could hear Leo's faint snoring from the guest room and the rustle of Lyla’s sheets.
She walked towards her room and realised with a cold dread that this was only the first night. She had twenty-nine more days to survive. And she wasn't sure if Leo or Lyla would make it out intact.
Lyla, on the other hand, didn’t really sleep; she was acting.
As soon as she heard another door shut, she got up from her bed and ran to Leo’s room. As she entered, she snapped the door shut and locked it.
“Leo, you have to talk to me now,” she said, shaking Leo aggressively. “No one can ever say no to me. No one ever did; I’m everyone’s favourite.”
“AHHHHH!” Leo screamed, and Lyla covered his mouth with her tiny hands.
“Leo, don’t scream. You’ll wake up mumma, be a good boy and talk to me.”
“I don’t like you,” his voice came out muffled as he threw her hands away.
“I won’t annoy you or hit you, I promise," she promised, holding up her pinky finger.
“I don’t believe you," he cried out
“Leo, I’ll let you play with my remote control car," she said, trying to do her best to get him to believe her.
“No, I don’t want to," He yelled, pushing her off the bed.
She tumbled but caught herself. In an instant, she climbed the bed again. “I’ll be a good friend."
“No, you’re rude. You're a meanie."
“I'M NOT!” She screeched.
Lyla raised her hand.
THUD.
The boy's head faced the side. The jarring impact of the hit still lingered in the room.
He sniffled, then broke into a loud cry.
The cries reached Elena, her eyes opening wide.
Immediately, she rushed to Leo's room.
"Leo, what happened? Are you ok?" Elena knocked on the door. Her hand gripped the door handle. It wouldn't budge.
The door was locked.
She froze, eyes widening in fear.
Immediately, she ran towards Lyla's room, slamming the door open.
"LYLA!"
But the room was empty.
Her fear had come true.
She sprinted back towards the boy's room, banging on the door. "LYLA! STOP THIS RIGHT NOW."
“No, he’s rude." A cold voice shot back. "He should get beaten up for that.”
“LYLA! OPEN THE DOOR THIS INSTANT.”
“No, mumma, not until he says he’s sorry and that he will be my friend!" she yelled. "He deserves this.”
Her jaw clenched.
“Leo, please apologise!”
Silence.
Elena rammed her shoulder into the door, hurling it open.
In an instant, the young boy ran to her. “Auntie, let me sleep with you," his voice was shaking as he sobbed. "I don’t sleep alone, and Lyla is scary.”
"Leo!" She looked down at the boy. "Of course you can," she lulled, patting him on the head.
In an instant, her gaze snapped towards Lyla, "GO TO YOUR ROOM, NOW! YOU'RE GROUNDED!"
“No, mumma, I won’t." She stomped on the ground. "You always scold me even though I did nothing wrong. Leo is the one being rude, but you love him more than me, so you don’t scold him.”
“Lyla. Room. Now.”
“Fine, I’m going." She puffed up her cheeks. "And I hope you like Leo when I go to Papi forever.”
The words hit Elena like a truck, but she still turned away, bringing the boy to her room. "Leo." She kneeled down, eyes meeting his. "You don’t have to make friends with Lyla if you don’t want to.”
“She's scary; she hits me,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “I know, sweetie, I know," she reassured. "You don’t have to talk to her at all; just think of me as your aunt, as your mother said. I'm like her sister, and she is mine."
“I know, Auntie. I like you, but I don’t like Lyla."
“Just give her some time, once you get to know her better, you two will become the best of friends, I know that for sure.”
“No, we won’t.”
Elena let out a sigh. “Let’s see that soon. For now, let’s just sleep, okay?”
“Okay, auntie.” He nodded. Tucking himself into the bed.
She reached over and turned off the bedside lamp, plunging the room into a soft, grey darkness. She climbed into the bed beside Leo, positioning herself between him and the door, a silent guardian against the horrors down the hall.
For a moment, the room was quiet, save for the sound of the wind rattling the windowpane.
“Auntie Elena?” Leo whispered into the dark, his voice trembling.
“Yes, darling?”
“Can we... Can we put a chair under the door handle? Like in the movies?”
Elena’s breath hitched. The fact that a six-year-old felt the need to barricade himself told her everything she needed to know about how the night had gone. Her heart ached for him.
“We don’t need a chair, Leo,” she whispered back, trying to sound brave. “I locked the door. And I’m right here. I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”
He sniffled, wiping his nose on the sleeve of his pyjamas. “She scares me. When she looks at me… it feels like she’s trying to kill me.”
“Shh, just close your eyes,” she soothed, stroking his hair gently. “Think about your mom. She’ll call in the morning. And maybe... maybe tomorrow Lyla will be better. She just doesn’t know how to be a friend yet.”
“She doesn’t want a friend,” he mumbled, his eyelids finally getting heavy. “She wants someone she can boss around.”
Elena froze. The accuracy of the child’s words sent a chill down her spine that had nothing to do with the temperature. She wanted to argue, to defend her daughter, but the image of the squelching frog in the shed flashed in her mind.
“She’s just confused,” she whispered, mostly to herself. “We’ll fix it. We have to.”
Elena continued to stroke his hair until his breathing slowed and evened out into sleep. Only then did she let her own tears fall, hot and silent against the pillow.
Lyla’s words from the hallway echoed in her mind, looping over and over again: “I hope you like Leo when I go to Papi forever.”
The way she said it, so coldly and easily.
Elena stared at the ceiling, her eyes wide open. The house was silent, but it didn't feel empty. She strained her ears, listening for any sound from the room across the hall.
Silence.
But it was a heavy silence. A waiting silence.
Elena knew Lyla wasn't asleep. She could feel her daughter’s presence through the walls, like a cold spot in the house.
Twenty-nine more days, she thought, clutching the blanket tighter around the sleeping boy. I just have to keep him safe for twenty-nine more days.
But as the wind howled outside, she couldn't shake the feeling that the storm inside the house had only just begun.
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