Chapter 12

Maybella woke, immediately feeling at her swollen face which ached. She sat up, looking around the large empty space, whispering out for Ivory. “Ivory, Ivory.” Only silence. The sun breaking through the window made her squint nearly uncontrollably, bringing her more pain than before. Then a sudden clutter from downstairs somewhere, Maybella gasped and put her back against the headboard. She listened further, but nothing came of it. There she stayed for a number of minutes.

It was another clash of clutter which got Maybella to put her feet on the floor; another clash, another disturbance, another grand array of things, a banging, a shuffling around looking for something. When she put all of her weight down to stand up she gasped, her knees threatened to lock out and snap at any moment, a threat which sat her back down on the bed. She caught her breath and wiped at the tears which got caught in her eyes by her swollen cheeks.