Inside the ambulance, Leo finally slept against Rachel.
Lily remained awake.
She watched the rain slide down the window and the apartment building disappear behind them.
Rachel asked about her mother’s fear.
That was when Lily mentioned him in the peculiar language children sometimes use when they know something is dangerous but have never been given the adult words for it.
She called him the man who knocked without saying his name.
Rachel asked who she meant.
Lily’s earlier answer about her father suddenly carried more weight.
This was not a monster invented to explain a dark hallway.
It was a household rule.
A practiced response.
