1.The street was quiet, moonlight brushing the rooftops like a whisper.
2. Inside, the house barely breathed.
3. Kelly was curled beneath a quilt stitched by hands long gone.
4. A faint hum of her white noise machine fought off the hush.
5. Down the hall, an empty bedroom held shadows in its corners.
6. Hope wasn’t here tonight.
7. She hadn’t been for weeks—ever since that last fight with Beth.
8. She was staying with her mother, miles away, under rules she didn’t agree with.
9. But anything was better than here.
10. A place where truth echoed louder than silence.

11. Beth’s car wasn’t in the driveway.
12. Hadn’t been all day.
13. The neighbors stopped asking where she was after the third time.
14. But they noticed.
15. Especially when Kelly came home alone from school.
16. Again.
17. The porch light flickered like it knew something.
18. The mailbox overflowed with unread warnings.

19. Upstairs, the master bedroom was untouched.
20. A makeup bag left open like she’d just stepped out.
21. But the silence said otherwise.
22. Beth hadn’t slept there in days.
23. Maybe longer.

24. A siren wailed in the distance.
25. Not close enough yet.
26. But someone had called.
27. The woman next door, probably.
28. She saw the light in Kelly’s room turn off at 7:30.
29. And stay off.
30. CPS would be knocking by morning.