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I take it and start to pat myself down.
“I’m betting that was Kae’s idea.” Dad arches a bushy eyebrow.
“Guilty.” I grin.
“That boy would follow you straight off a cliff, wouldn’t he?”
“I’d never risk Kastle’s life like that.” I offer dad my damp towel. “Want to dry off?”
He presses a kiss to my forehead. “It’s fine. Smells like the ocean.”
“Told you,” I sing at mom.
She rolls her eyes. “Go change out of those wet clothes before you catch a cold, Kaelyn.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I head down the hallway, humming softly under my breath.
It feels like I’m floating.
Like I’m on a cloud that will never come down.
I reach for the linen closet door and pull.
A bunch of boxes come crashing down.
The noise rings like a gunshot.
It locks my limbs in place.
Memories from that dark night slam into me.
A hand over my mouth.
The taste of sweat and fear.
The scent of exhaust from the black van they threw me into.
Flashes of darkness sweep through my mind. I struggle to breathe and shoot my hand out to balance against the wall. My body feels like it’s collapsing on top of itself, like it no longer has the energy to hold me up.
“Kaelyn!” Mom appears behind me, her arm winding around my shoulders. “John! John!”
My head swims.
I look up, at the light in the hallway.
The ceiling vibrates and transforms into the roof of a truck.
A van.
I hear the rumbling. The arguing of my kidnappers.
“John!” Mom screams.
A moment later, I’m lifted up.
That’s dad’s scent. His cologne that he’s been wearing for fifty years.
I cling to my father and gulp in air through my mouth while I struggle to separate the past from this moment.
