ooked differ

the cracked asphalt. Swings hung motionless like hanged men, the monkey bars stretched across the darkness like skeletal fingers. The flag by the entrance flap

he day. She climbed out, heart thudding so hard she could feel it in her throat, heels crunching against loose gravel as she made her way toward the

houette and the faint glow from the streetlights behind her, a ghostly figure moving through the night like a lost soul. No la

nce was

she s

t with "Willow Creek Security" embroidered on the chest in faded yellow letters. A flashlight hung loosely in his left hand,

one of someone who'd spent too many years dealing with people wh

in, like she was at altitude. "I'm Maya Daniels. My daughter...

cap. He straightened a little, the suspicion in

rush, desperate to make him understand. "She has dark hair, usually in brai

y I know the name, but then again, I don't know all the kids. I just started shift at six. Have

her chest. "Are you sure? Maybe she was hidi

hallway, every bathroom. It's procedure." He shook his head slowl

es the school bus. It drops her at the bus stop just three blocks from our

d lost children who usually turned up safe. "If she was still around here when I got in, I woul

space between them. "No answer. It's after hours. I left messages

ing the genuine fear in her voice. "Well... maybe she stopped off at a

s house. I've raised her to come straight home, no distractions. She doesn't even like going out. She'd rather watch cartoons or

ded, like she'd raised a child who was isolated, afraid of the world. But it was true.

. maybe it's just a mix-up. You check with any neighb

slowly but s

m 3B who always smiled politely in the hallway. The college students in 2A who played music too lou

alls around herself and Anna? That she'd

ing away from the security guard who

t did nothing to warm the cold that had settled in her bones. The sky was clear, a thousand stars twinkling indifferently overhead, witnesses to her panic who offered no comfort

est, only sil

gged herself, her breath visible in

r am I dreaming

e years, cartoons or a Disney movie, shared popcorn, Anna curled against her side on the couch. But her phone was still clenched in her hand, the display sho

was

ad no one

to tu

leading her. Maybe home. Maybe not. But she knew one thing, she couldn

her almost as much a