I Couldn’t Remember Hearing Anyone Come Back Upstairs

“Stay with the neighbor. Don’t move. Mom and Dad are on their way.”

“Melissa’s still in there.”

Silence.

Then: “Are you sure?”

“She told me to run.”

The older woman came toward me with a patio cushion under one arm like that was the emergency tool she had chosen. “Honey, sit down before you crack your head.”

I sat because my body had started shaking so continue reading …