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“Mom still isn’t back yet”

There were no clocks, so I didn’t know the ti through the s It was dark outside, with a hint of sunrise That

I already knehat they’d done to her “She’ll be back soon”

“But why is she still gone?”

“I’m not sure But I wouldn’t worry about it”

She was beside me on the other pillow, the sheets pulled to her shoulder, the cotton sleeve of her white shirt poking out a bit Her hands were pulled to her chest underneath the blankets, her knees folded in tight,herself as small as possible “Do you have any kids?”

“Not yet” And not ever, probably

“Are there other kids here?”

“No”

“Then why am I here?”

“Not sure Must have been a mistake”

“I miss my dad… I miss my friends… I miss my room”

The a I’d endured didn’t co that a child was there, living in a nightmare that would scar her for life She spent most of her tiels, so her e if we didn’t get out of here “You’ll be back soon enough”

“I hope so My dad must miss me”

Oh, she had no idea “He’ll be so happy to have you back What are you guys going to do first?”

“We go to the movies a lot”

“That sounds like fun”

“And we play house with my dolls”

I suppressed the smile that wanted to take up my face, because Benton did not look like adolls around andtheirl I remembered what Beatrice had said There’s only one wo to him But that was how it should be

“Can I play with you guys sometime?”

“Sure” Her eyes started to light up with excitehts on normal stuff now, not scary men with the skulls “I have a whole collection of dolls Ruby, Diane—” She went on, telling me about all her toys, about her classether

I’d tried to dispel her fear by talking about nors, but she was the one who ether, sitting in a café with their gelatos on cones, a father spending tihter

It was beautiful