Chapter 43 – The Night the Parents Almost Stabbed Other Mommy

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The family is awake, dressed clean, and sitting on the couch with knives. Bela dozes off and wakes to find her parents staring at the ceiling. They believe Other Mommy is upstairs in the storage closet (second pantry). Mommy and Daddo psych themselves up, repeating that they must act outside their nature. They climb the stairs with Bela between them, the dogs growling below.

At the closed closet door, Daddo flips the switch but no light comes on. Mommy commands Other Mommy to leave Bela alone. When she pushes the door open, a foul smell emerges. Other Mommy speaks from the darkness: “Hello, and who are you?” The parents scream and stab into the closet—but the doorbell rings, breaking their resolve. They discover the closet is empty. Bela’s bedroom door slams shut, confirming Other Mommy has moved.

The doorbell rings again and again. Daddo opens the front door to find Lois Anthony on the porch, looking shaken. Lois apologises for her earlier failure and says she has learned how to deal with the entity. She explains that knives won’t work and that the family must “make Bela less appealing” by removing her innocence. Lois insists they go somewhere private to talk. Despite exhaustion, Mommy agrees to hear her out.

Key Events

The family sits dressed and armed, waiting; Bela falls asleep briefly.
Mommy and Daddo detect Other Mommy upstairs; they decide to confront it in the second pantry.
They creep upstairs, Bela in the middle, dogs growling.
Mommy speaks into the dark closet, then stabs with Daddo—but the doorbell interrupts.
The closet proves empty; Bela’s bedroom door slams, signalling Other Mommy’s new location.
Lois arrives at the front door, interrupting the attack.
Lois reveals she did research and knows the entity wants Bela’s innocence.
She advises the parents to remove that innocence to make Bela “less appetizing.”
Mommy, though furious, finally agrees to listen.

Character Development

Bela remains the vulnerable centre. She falls asleep repeatedly, cries, and cannot fully grasp the danger. Her innocence is explicitly named as the entity’s target.
Mommy and Daddo show extreme desperation. They arm themselves and attempt a violent confrontation, but their bravery evaporates when the plan fails. They become “just people with small knives.” Their willingness to consider Lois’s radical idea shows they are out of options.
Lois Anthony evolves from a passive, inadequate helper into someone who has done deep research. She arrives unannounced, stands firm, and delivers a hard truth. Her tears and determined posture suggest genuine remorse and a new clarity.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

The “second pantry” – a dark, confining space that once served as a hiding place in a game, now becomes the site of attempted violence. It symbolises how domestic spaces are corrupted.
Dressed up and clean – the family’s appearance contrasts with their violent intentions, highlighting the tension between normalcy and horror.
Innocence as fuel – Lois’s solution directly names innocence as the quality feeding Other Mommy. The chapter pivots from physical combat to a psychological, even moral, stripping away.
The doorbell – a mundane intrusion that shatters the parents’ courage. It represents the outside world’s obliviousness and the impossibility of a clean resolution.
Repetition of “outside our nature” – the parents must become something other than protective caregivers; this phrase foreshadows the terrible choice they may have to make.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 43 is a turning point. The family’s violent plan fails, confirming that Other Mommy cannot be attacked directly. Lois’s return offers a new, horrifying strategy: destroy Bela’s innocence. This shifts the conflict from external monster-fighting to an internal, ethical crisis. The parents are now faced with a choice that could fundamentally damage their daughter. The chapter also deepens the mystery of Other Mommy’s nature and reinforces her supernatural ability to move through the house at will.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does the attack on the closet fail, and what does this reveal about Other Mommy’s nature?
The attack fails because Other Mommy is not physically confined to the closet; she can vanish and reappear in Bela’s bedroom. This shows she is a non‑corporeal, intelligent entity that can manipulate the house and its occupants. The parents’ reliance on knives proves futile.

2. What does Lois mean by “make Bela less appealing”? How does this change the family’s goal?
Lois explains that Other Mommy is drawn to Bela’s innocence. “Less appealing” means purposely removing that innocence—through exposure to trauma, fear, or potentially harmful experiences. The goal shifts from expelling the entity to altering Bela’s psyche, raising profound ethical stakes.

3. How does the repeated ringing of the doorbell function symbolically in this chapter?
The doorbell represents the intrusion of the ordinary world into a supernatural crisis. It breaks the parents’ trance-like determination and forces them to confront a real person (Lois) who offers a different kind of solution. The sound also underscores the helplessness of their situation: even a simple knock can derail their plan.