Free Safe as Houses by Simone van der Vlugt

woken up but falls asleep again when she hears her mother’s voice soothing her. Thank God. There’s no way they can escape from the basement. High above them there’s a window, but it’s too small even to stick your head through. It does let in a little of the dusky light, but, because there’s no outside lighting at the back of the house, it doesn’t amount to much. She’d be best off going to sleep; she desperately needs rest. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?
    The police, she thinks, full of desperate hope. Please let the police turn up.
    She feels for her pyjamas with her good hand and gets undressed. She crawls under the duvet and wraps an arm around Anouk.
    Above them there’s a rush of water, and then she hears a gurgling in the pipe that runs down into the basement. Kreuger is taking a shower.
    Lisa rolls on to her back and listens to the sounds upstairs: the flush of the toilet, Kreuger’s footsteps resounding on the landing, the protesting squeak of the cupboards as he opens them. Not long afterwards it grows quiet, and she hears the creaking of a bed. Her bed.

15
    The basement had been Mark’s territory. There was enough space to store plenty of stuff; he’d hung shelves on the walls and filled them with all the rubbish Lisa herself would have thrown away, but which he couldn’t bear to part with: old, rusty tools that he never used, broken appliances like vacuum cleaners and radios that he was planning to repair, boxes of corks, bin-bag ties, used batteries – he saved everything. He also used the garage for storing larger things, such as damaged garden chairs, and tiles in various sizes and colours that might one day come in handy.
    When they broke up, Lisa put everything out with the rubbish. It was a relief in more ways than one. Once Mark and all his mess had gone, there was light and space in the house, but also a terrible emptiness.
    She knows exactly what’s in the basement – there’s nothing here that she can use. The once-packed space is as good as empty, making it a perfect prison cell. Before her clearing-up spree, she and Anouk would never have been able to fit the mattresses into the cellar. But, in that case, Kreuger might have taken more drastic measures to get them out of his way.
    She forces herself to think about something else. About Mark. Even though they’re separated, he still calls regularly, making all kinds of suggestions as an excuse to contact them. She doesn’t entirely mind; she needs to hear his voice too. But unfortunately he also turns up unexpectedly. She can’t cope with seeing him, not yet. She hasn’t let go of him enough to be comfortable with that.
    There’s a strong chance that he’ll turn up on the doorstep tomorrow. Sweat breaks out on her forehead at the thought: how on earth are they going to stop him from coming in? Mark isn’t someone who’ll accept no for an answer. Luckily she didn’t get the chance to tell him that Anouk was ill; otherwise he’d certainly have come. Whatever else she thinks of him, he’s undeniably a good father and he loves his daughter to bits.
    â€˜Mark . . .’ Lisa mumbles into the darkness.
    Deep in the night, Anouk wakes suddenly in the middle of a bad dream. When she sees how darkit is around them, she begins to scream. Lisa shoots upright, feels for her daughter, gathers her in and comforts her.
    â€˜Quiet now, quiet now, Mummy’s here. Don’t scream, Anouk, everything’s fine.’
    Relieved that she’s not alone, Anouk presses into her. ‘Light,’ she says in a trembling voice.
    â€˜The light’s broken, darling. But there’s no need to be frightened, I’m here with you.’
    â€˜Light!’ There’s panic in Anouk’s voice, but Lisa manages to quieten her.
    â€˜Let’s cuddle up together. The dark isn’t scary, it really isn’t.’
    â€˜Where