Chapter 6 - The Boy in the Doorway
The morning after the phone call, the coastal fog was thick and heavy, rolling off the ocean like a physical blanket over the small house.
I stood by the kitchen window, a cup of black coffee cooling in my hands. I hadn't slept a single minute. My eyes were fixed entirely on the gravel driveway leading up to the porch.
At exactly eight o'clock, a beat-up sedan pulled through the fog and rolled to a stop.
The driver’s side door creaked open.
A figure stepped out into the damp morning air. He was thinner than I remembered, his shoulders hunched as if carrying an invisible, crushing weight. He wore a faded denim jacket, and his hair was longer, unkempt.
But when he looked up at the house, I saw his eyes.
"Caleb,"
I whispered, dropping the ceramic mug into the sink. It shattered, but I didn't care.
I threw open the front door and ran across the wet wooden porch, my bare feet hitting the cold gravel.
Caleb took two hesitant steps forward before his knees simply gave out. He collapsed onto the driveway, burying his face in his hands.
I fell to my knees right beside him, wrapping my arms fiercely around his trembling shoulders, pulling him tightly against my chest.
"I'm here, Caleb,"
I sobbed, burying my face in his damp hair.
"I'm so sorry, Hannah,"
Caleb wept, his voice completely shattered.
"I thought I was never going to see you again."
"You are safe now,"
May you like
I promised him, holding him tighter than I ever had in my entire life.
"They are gone. The monsters are gone."
