Chapter 5 – A Note

When the Coleman's returned home, they were not alone. The Italian flirter, Paolo, went with them. Daniel was not happy about that, but Max convinced him that everything would be fine. Her simple little six-year-old mind didn't contemplate what could and did happen that night.

Daniel lay in his new bed, next to the wall and could hear his mother's moans of pleasure in the next room, and he felt sick to his stomach. He was jealous of Max at this point – she couldn't hear anything. She could sleep soundly. Only Max wasn't asleep, she was awake and although she couldn't hear anything, she was frantic with worry. It overpowered her mind like a black hole and she couldn't escape. If Ester had broken into their house once, she could easily do it again.

It was very, very late at night by the time the moans and groans and giggles from the next room had stopped, and Daniel could hear Paolo's soft snores in his mother's bedroom. He rolled over to face Max's bed and saw that she was looking at him too.

"Can't sleep, huh?" he asked. Max shrugged; she had no idea what he said; she wasn't wearing her hearing aid. Besides, shrugging could be appropriate giving any circumstances. Daniel got out of bed slowly and quietly and tiptoed over to Max. She sat up and gave him an unconvincing smile. He saw this and sat on her bed next to her.

MAX, he signed. WE WON'T BE ABLE TO SLEEP UNLESS… he didn't know anymore that would fit the situation. Max saw this signed the rest for him. UNTIL WE KNOW WHERE ESTER IS.

The children got up and crept out of their room, hoping that they wouldn't be caught by their mother, or Paolo or the person they were actually trying to find. That would be hell.

Max rubbed her eyes and went over to the bathroom and frantically searched for some kind of sign that Ester was still in their apartment. She found nothing.

She met Daniel in the hall. He shook his head and she shook hers back. Suddenly, there was a loud bang on the front door. Max and Daniel froze in fear. Of course they knew who it was and they knew what would happen to them if they answered it. There was another bang and then they heard a faint laughter. "Hello, Coleman's," the voice whispered. "So lovely to hear from you again."

Max cowered away, but Daniel ran straight up to the door and pounded his fists against it. "You bitch!" he screamed, not caring who heard him, not caring who woke up. "You killed him, and now I'll kill you! It ends now!" He bent over to unlock the door, but Max stopped him.

DON'T YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DANGEROS THIS IS!" she signed. Daniel knew she was right and backed away from the door.

"Have we calmed down?" Ester's Estonian accent filled their hearts with dread and fear.

"Yes," Daniel spat, angry that he'd given up so easily.

"Good. Now listen here, you little twat. I'm not Ester; I'm Leena, Leena Klammer. I'm not your sweet little adopted sister, I'm a woman nearly as old as your mom, and I'm as strong as her too, so don't dare fuck with me, or I'll be coming for you next, got it?"

Daniel stood in shock. Ester, a fully grown woman? It couldn't be true…could it? If his mother knew this, she never told him. He whimpered slightly at the thought.

Behind the door, Ester – or Leena, as she was calling herself – let out a slow chuckle. "Poor, little, stupid children. Little fuckers on the face of the earth that have no future in life."

"Why are you here?" Daniel whispered. "Why are you here?" he repeated, louder.

"To seek revenge, idiotic boy. Your father and I…we would have been happy. And you know it. Everyone knows it. But you wouldn't leave us alone. Sister Abigail wouldn't leave us alone. Max wouldn't leave us alone and, above all, your whore of a mother wouldn't leave us alone. I was at my wits end, you know. I wanted him, I needed him, and he wouldn't be with me because of his shitty little family." She swore under her breath.

"That's not true," Daniel cried. "He wouldn't be with you because you're a little girl! You always will be a little girl!"

"No! No!" Ester shouted, banging her fists against the door. "No! No! No!" She started screaming, like that day in the school, when Brenda touched her ribbon.

Max backed away in fear and she saw that Daniel did the same. They waited as she went silent and then something came through their letter box. Daniel heard her footsteps as she ran away and then he ran to his room

MAX! He signed, gesturing for her to come over. He was just a scared little boy, trying to run away.

Max ignored him and tiptoed over to the note Ester had pushed through the letter box and picked it up. It was the same paper that the letter had been written on. Her stomach lurched. Who knew what this said?

She tiptoed back to her bedroom and sat on Daniel's bed. He switched on the lamp and sat beside her, grabbing the note. All it said was:

I'm coming.

In Ester's scrawny handwriting. And there was a photo beside it of a man. No, not a man. A man's corpse. Max was physically sick and Daniel was almost. Ester, or Leena, or whoever the hell this person was, had killed an innocent man, just to scare them. Well, it had definitely worked. They were scared stiff. Daniel took Max to the bathroom as she threw up more, and he was a little sick himself. Their mother walked in, rubbing her eyes. "You kids okay?" she asked, worriedly.

Max nodded, reading her lips. Daniel simply glared. He hadn't forgiven her yet.

WAS SOMEONE YELLING? Kate signed, not bothering to translate for Daniel. If he wanted to play it that way, so be it.

Max paused. YES…DANIEL WAS HALLUCINATING BECAUSE OF HIS FEVER, she signed carefully.

"Oh my!" Kate cried. "Oh, Daniel, are you alright." She started feeling his forehead.

"I'm fine, mom!" Daniel lied.

"Well, if you did have a fever, it's gone now," she said, staring hard at Max. Max looked away. She so badly wanted to tell her mom everything she knew. But that would stress her out too much.

Daniel looked down and he took Max's hand and led her into their room. "Max", he whispered. "We have to do something!"

Max shrugged, and Daniel tried to sign, but he couldn't. It was too hard.

WE…CAN…DO…SOMETHING?" he tried. Max understood grabbed a pen and some paper. She drew a computer as best she could and gave it to him.

"Computer?" Daniel asked confused. "Why would we need…?" Then he got it. "Max! You're a genius! We'll do some research on Ester! Maybe someone can help us!"

I'M SURE SOMEONE CAN, Max smiled, and it was the first time in days, she had a proper night's sleep. And it would be the last time for a while.