He drives like he has somewhere to be. Like he’s done this before.
He turns into a quiet neighborhood. Small houses. Dark windows. Lawns are soaked with rain. He parks in a driveway and carries the bags inside. The door closes. I sit there for half a second, staring at the house. Then I’m out of the car.
Up the walk.
At the door.
I knock.
Footsteps.
The door opens.
It’s him.
Up close, he looks… ordinary. Tired, even.
“Can I help you?” he says.
“You were buying little girls’ clothes.”
A pause. Barely there. “So?” he says.
A darkness spreads through my body, cold and immediate. I lean in just enough that he has to look at me. “Do you have a little girl?”
He frowns. “No. Why?”
Something inside me breaks loose. I burst forward through the door. The doorway disappears under my feet.
Suddenly, I’m inside an empty house.
Alone, standing in the dark.
And—
I wake up screaming.
My heart is trying to tear its way out of my chest.
My sheets are twisted around my legs. My fists are clenched like I’m still holding onto something.
For a second, I don’t know where I am.
Then the room comes back into focus.
The walls.
The dark.
The silence.
I sit there, breathing hard, staring at my hands.
I didn’t see what happened next. My mind didn’t let me.
Chapter 36
Nathan
