Chapter 2: The Voice Hidden Inside The Black Box
The blinking red light continued to flash between my fingers.
Amanda didn’t move.
For several seconds, nobody in the kitchen breathed.
The roast chicken sat untouched on the table.
The noodles in my bowl had already gone cold.
But none of us cared about lunch anymore.
Because something had changed.
For the first time since my dad left, Amanda wasn’t looking at me like I was a child who could be controlled.
She was looking at me like I was holding something dangerous.
“Give me that.””
Her voice was quiet.
Too quiet.
I had learned that Amanda’s quiet voice was worse than her shouting.
When she yelled, I knew what was coming.
When she whispered, I didn’t.
I closed my fingers around the device.
“No.””
The word came out smaller than I wanted.
But I said it.
Amanda stared at me.
“You don’t know what you’re holding.””
I looked at the little black box.
“Yes, I do.””
My voice shook.
“Daddy told me to keep it.””
Her expression changed.
Just slightly.
But I noticed.
She hated hearing Dad’s name.
“What exactly did Daniel tell you?””
I didn’t answer.
I remembered the night before he left.
The way he sat beside my bed.
The way he looked serious even though he tried to smile.
“Ethan,” he had said, “sometimes people don’t show who they really are until they think they’re alone.””
At seven years old, I didn’t understand what that meant.
Now I was beginning to.
Amanda took a step closer.
“Ethan.””
I stepped backward.
She stopped.
Maybe she finally realized something.
Maybe she realized I wasn’t the same boy who sat quietly and accepted everything.
“Did your father tell you to record me?”” she asked.
I shook my head.
“No.””
“Then why do you have that?””
“Because he said I might need it.””
Amanda laughed.
But there was no humor in it.
A sharp, nervous sound.
“Your father is unbelievable.””
Lily appeared in the hallway.
She was still crying, but she wasn’t running away anymore.
“What’s wrong with it?””
Amanda turned immediately.
“Go upstairs.””
Lily shook her head.
“No.””
Amanda’s eyes widened.
“Lily.””
“I want to know.””
The little girl who had been afraid moments earlier was suddenly standing beside me.
Amanda looked between us.
Two children.
Two people she thought she could easily control.
And for the first time, she looked unsure.
“You both need to understand something,” she said.
Her voice became smoother.
The voice she used when pretending to be kind.
“Your father has been under a lot of stress. Sometimes adults make strange choices when they’re worried.””
Lily frowned.
“Is Daddy worried?””
“Yes.””
“About us?””
Amanda hesitated.
“About everything.””
I watched her carefully.
She was lying.
I didn’t know how I knew.
Maybe it was because I had spent enough time around her.
Maybe children notice things adults forget to hide.
Amanda reached out her hand.
“Ethan, give me the device.””
I held it tighter.
“No.””
Her smile disappeared.
“Why are you making this difficult?””
I looked at her.
“Because Daddy said not to.””
For a moment, I saw something behind her eyes.
Anger.
Pure anger.
But it disappeared quickly.
She looked toward Lily.
“Your brother doesn’t understand what he’s doing.””
“He does understand,” Lily said.
Amanda turned.
“What?””
“He knows you’re being mean.””
The room became silent again.
Amanda stared at her own daughter.
And I realized something.
Lily was the only person in the house who still believed people should be fair.
She hadn’t learned how to pretend yet.
Amanda slowly walked toward the counter.
Then she picked up her phone.
My stomach tightened.
“Who are you calling?””
She didn’t answer.
She typed something.
A message.
I didn’t know who it was to.
But then her face changed.
She looked at the screen.
And for a second, she looked scared again.
“What did you send?”” I asked.
Amanda locked her phone.
“Nothing.””
Lily looked suspicious.
“You’re lying.””
Amanda’s head snapped toward her.
“Don’t speak to me like that.””
“But you are.””
“Lily.””
“No.””
Her voice trembled.
“But you always say Ethan lies, and he doesn’t.””
Amanda went still.
That sentence hurt her more than anything I had said.
Because it was true.
For weeks, she had told Dad little stories.
“Ethan forgot his homework.””
“Ethan is being difficult.””
“Ethan doesn’t like me.””
Small things.
Tiny accusations.
Things that sounded harmless.
But enough of them could change the way someone saw you.
Especially when that someone was your father.
I remembered one night when Dad called.
Amanda was smiling before she answered.
Then she looked at me.
Her smile disappeared.
After the call ended, she said:
“Your father thinks you’re upset because you miss your mother.””
I had looked down.
Because I did miss my mother.
But that wasn’t why I was upset.
I was upset because I was scared.
And I didn’t know how to explain that.
Amanda had always been better with words.
She could make anything sound like my fault.
Now, standing in that kitchen, she didn’t have control anymore.
Because there was proof.
A tiny black box.
A blinking red light.
A witness that never got tired.
Amanda suddenly reached forward.
“Give it to me.””
I moved away.
“No.””
“Ethan.””
“No!””
My voice surprised all of us.
I had never yelled at her before.
Not once.
Amanda stared at me.
Then she lowered her voice.
“Do you know what happens when children misunderstand things?””
I said nothing.
“They hurt people.””
Lily stepped closer.
“You’re scaring him.””
Amanda looked at her.
“I’m teaching him.””
“No.””
Lily shook her head.
“You’re not.””
Amanda’s expression hardened.
Then she grabbed her coat from the chair.
The movement was so sudden that I thought she was leaving.
But she wasn’t.
She grabbed her keys.
“I’m going to talk to your father.””
My heart dropped.
Dad.
She was going to call Dad.
I imagined her telling him I had been disrespectful.
I imagined him believing her.
I had spent so long afraid of that moment.
Amanda opened the door.
Then she stopped.
She looked back at the device in my hand.
“Ethan.””
I looked up.
“If your father asks you about this…”
She paused.
Her eyes became cold.
“Be careful what you say.””
Then she walked outside.
The door slammed.
Lily and I stood in the kitchen.
Neither of us spoke.
A minute passed.
Then another.
Finally, Lily whispered:
“Ethan?””
“Yeah?””
“Is Daddy going to be mad?””
I looked at the device.
The red light was still blinking.
“I don’t know.””
“What if Mom tells him bad things?””
I didn’t answer.
Because that was exactly what I was afraid of.
Then the device made another sound.
A small click.
I looked down.
The screen on the side turned on.
A file appeared.
I had never seen it before.
Lily leaned closer.
“What is that?””
I stared.
There was a date.
A time.
And a title.
My hands started shaking.
Because the recording wasn’t from today.
It wasn’t from the kitchen.
It wasn’t from the lunch we had just eaten.
The file was from three days after Dad left.
And underneath the date was a name.
Not mine.
Not Lily’s.
Amanda’s.
Then another name appeared.
A name I had never heard before.
Someone Dad clearly knew.
Someone Amanda didn’t want me to find.
I looked at Lily.
“What?””
I swallowed.
“I think…”
The device played one second of audio.
Just one.
But it was enough.
A man’s voice came through the speaker.
“Once Daniel signs those papers, everything will belong to us.””
Lily’s eyes widened.
“Who is that?””
I didn’t know.
But I knew one thing.
My stepmother wasn’t just being cruel.
She was hiding something much bigger.
May you like
And whatever my dad had discovered before leaving…
was the reason he had trusted a seven-year-old boy with a secret recorder.
