---- resolved the issue, and reminded me not to be mischievous again. Inever imagined my mom could go to such lengths for me. She seemed to have gone mad, intent on shutting the coffin on Pauline. Chandler lost his last shred of dignity and seized my mom by the neck. "Are you insane?" My mom screamed and struggled before sinking her teeth into Chandler's neck. When she pulled away, I saw she had taken a chunk of flesh with her! Furious, Chandler retaliated by gripping my mom's waist, flipping her over, and shoving her into the coffin Pauline had just climbed out of. Then came a loud 'bang!' as he slammed the lid shut. ---- His eyes were red with anger. "you need to calm down, Mother!" Then he turned around and helped steady Pauline. He tenderly wiped the cake off her face, completely disregarding my mom, who was still thrashing and shouting inside the coffin. Then she stopped. Through the quiet rustling, I thought I heard her calling my name. "Mariah, where are you? I'm so scared..." My mom had always been afraid of the dark. I grew up ina single-parent household so to support me, my mom often worked late into the night. I always waited for her at the end of a long alley, eager to escort her home. ---- By holding my hand, she always found the courage to step into the darkness. She also suffered from claustrophobia. Once, she got trapped in an elevator and endured a month-long fever that nearly took her life. Now, the only person I cared about in this world had been heartlessly locked in a coffin. Chandler knew full well that my mom was afraid of the dark. As I hovered in the air, rage coursed through me, shaking my entire being. I strained with all my might to squeeze into that small, narrow coffin, but all I could do was listen to my mom's terrified voice echoing around me. She kept calling out to me, her face streaked with tears. "T'm so scared, Mariah!"