“What do you mean she’s not there? You’ve been alone?”
“Yes. I don’t know what to do anymore.”
For a moment, Thomas Carter said nothing.
Then he jumped to his feet so suddenly his chair crashed to the floor.
He grabbed his car keys from the desk and ran out of his office without saying a word to anyone.
Inside the elevator, he tried calling Emily, his ex-wife.
Her phone was off.
He called again.
And again.
Straight to voicemail.
“Damn it!”
Thomas drove straight to Emily’s house across town. He broke every speed limit on the way.
When he arrived, he parked crookedly, jumped out, and pounded on the door.
“Ethan! It’s Dad! Open the door!”
No answer.
He tried the handle.
The door wasn’t locked.
The house was silent.
In the living room he found Ethan, six years old, sitting on the floor hugging a pillow. His face was dirty, his eyes swollen from crying, and his stomach looked hollow with hunger.
“Dad… I thought you weren’t coming.”
Thomas knelt beside him immediately.
“Where’s Lily?”
Ethan pointed to the couch.
Three-year-old Lily lay there motionless, pale and limp.
Thomas rushed over and touched her forehead.
She was burning with fever.
But she didn’t react.
He lifted her into his arms instantly.