By Richard A. Lovett ©2009
This story appeared in Abyss and Apex, and was later collected in a best-of anthology. It’s a novelette in 4 parts.
I. Tabitha in the Box
Drew Sweetland had barely stepped through the door when his wife complained that Tabitha was back in the box.
“She’s your daughter,” she said, in the tone that always made him wish he’d found an excuse to stay at work. At the best of times, stepmom was a role Elaine assumed or discarded at will, based more on her attitude about him than anything Tabitha had or hadn’t done. And these weren’t the best of times.
“I knew we shouldn’t have gotten that thing,” she added, which wasn’t at all what she’d said when she’d talked him into it when the refrigerator broke. Refrigerators are passé, she’d said back then…read more.