Part 20
The flashing lights of three police cruisers and an ambulance illuminated our front yard, casting blue and red reflections across the snow. The paramedics treated Ethan for his concussion and bandaged the scratches on my face. Chloe had finally woken up from the commotion, but Marcus had interceptive timing; he sat with her in the back of an ambulance, giving her a teddy bear and keeping her distracted from the horror outside.
I stood on the porch, wrapped in a heavy blanket, watching as two large police officers dragged Madison out of our front door. She couldn't walk properly without her cane, so they practically carried her, her bound feet dragging through the snow.
As they reached the sidewalk, she stopped, turning her head toward me one last time. Her face was smeared with dirt and tear tracks, her hair wild. She looked incredibly small, pathetic, and broken. The terrifying monster of my childhood was gone; all that was left was a bitter, ruined woman who had thrown her entire life away for a vendetta that gave her nothing.
"This isn't over, Emily!" she screamed, her voice cracking in the freezing air. "I’ll find you again! I'll never stop!"
One of the officers opened the back door of the cruiser and pushed her inside, cutting off her voice with a sharp slam of the door.
I walked down the steps, my blanket trailing in the snow, and walked right up to the police car. I tapped on the glass. The officer inside looked at me, then lowered the window slightly.
Madison glared at me through the opening, her breath fogging the glass.
"It is over, Madison," I said, my voice completely calm, devoid of any anger or fear. I felt a strange, profound lightness washing over me. "You have no power over me anymore. You never did. You were just a bully hiding behind Dad's shadow. Now Dad is dead, Mom is dead, and you are going back to a cage for the rest of your life. I am erasing you from my story. Forever."
I didn't wait to see her reaction. I turned my back on her, walking away as the police cruiser pulled away from the curb, its tires crunching against the ice, taking the last remnant of my past darkness away into the night.
Ethan walked up behind me, wrapping his strong arms around my waist, pulling me close against his chest. His head was bandaged, but his smile was warm and relieved.
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"We did it," he whispered into my ear. "The fortress held."
"No," I said, turning in his arms to look at him, then over at Chloe, who was laughing with Marcus in the ambulance. "We don't need a fortress anymore, Ethan. The monsters are finally gone. We’re just a family now."
