WHAT WAS HIDDEN IN THE DIAPER?
That morning, when my sister Jennifer dropped off baby Lily at our house, she looked like a ghost. She had purple shadows around her eyes, and her hands shook as she put Lily in the carrier. She kept turning her head and looking down the calm suburban street, as if she thought someone would jump out of the bushes.
“Are you okay?”I asked.
She shook her head too rapidly.
“Yes. Just need to get my hair cut. “I won’t be long.”
But even as she spoke it, her voice shook at the edges, sounding thin and breaking like glass. There was something wrong. Very wrong.
But I didn’t push.
New moms often felt like they were going to fall apart. I told myself that was all there was.
Tom and I looked at each other with worry when she left.
“After birth?”He said, “
“Maybe,” I answered, but my gut felt tight.
That made the tension even worse when Lily suddenly started crying. It was a loud, piercing howl that didn’t seem like she was hungry or exhausted. I rocked her, sung to her, and took her temperature. Nothing worked.
“Mom!””Sophia called from the living room.” “I can help!” I want to change her diaper! I practiced with my dolls!”
I playfully waved to her. “Go for it, nurse Sophia.”
She laughed and laid a blanket on the floor. She opened the diaper tabs with the kind of accuracy that only a surgeon would have.
After then, she didn’t move at all.
“Mom, look at this.”
Her voice was small and terrified.
I rushed over.
She held a small, folded piece of paper that was crumpled and wet from being tucked deep within the diaper.
A note.
My heart started to race.
I carefully grabbed it from her and opened it up.
The penmanship was bad; it was wobbly and inconsistent. Written with eyeliner.
It said:
“HE’S COMING FOR HER. DON’T LET HIM TAKE HER. DON’T LET HIM FIND ME.”
I thought the floor was going to fall.
Tom got to me in two steps, grabbed the note out of my hand, read it, and his face went pale.
“Oh my God… Jennifer…” he said softly.
His hands shook so much that he almost dropped the page.
Sophia blinked back and forth between us.
“What does it mean?””
Tom took a deep breath.
“Sweetheart, can you just go to your room for a minute? “We need to talk, Mommy.”
Sophia nodded, but her eyes were wide with fear.
Tom locked all three deadbolts on the front door when she left. Then he came back with his phone. His voice was shaky at best.
“We… we need to call 911.”
“What if it’s a mistake?”I muttered, but the reality, cold and clear, was already winding around my lungs. “What if she just got scared?”
Tom shook his head hard.
“That handwriting… she wasn’t having a panic attack.” She was running for her life.
And for the life of her baby.
Lily’s wailing suddenly changed to a high-pitched, desperate scream, as if she could feel the tension around her.
Tom called the emergency hotline.
He grasped my shoulders when the phone rang.
“Don’t go near the windows,” he said quietly. “She might be hiding from someone who is watching her.”
That was the most scared I had ever been.
Not the sort that makes you scream, but the kind that takes the air out of your lungs.
The dispatcher picked up. Tom started to talk quickly.
“This is an emergency.” We found a secret message in a baby’s diaper that said someone was coming for her. The mother is gone. “We need cops right away.”
I held Lily close while he talked.
Then another noise filled the room.
A quiet click.
From the exterior.
Close to the side of our house.
A latch for the gate.
As if someone had just opened it.
I stopped.
Tom heard it too.
With his eyes wide open, he cautiously put the phone down.
“Helen, there’s someone in the yard.”
THE MAN IN THE YARD
There was no mistaking the sound.
A latch.
Metal against metal.
Soft, but on purpose.
I saw the truth in Tom’s eyes when they met mine:
There was already someone here.
I held tiny Lily tighter. Her small body crushed against mine, and I could feel her shaking from my own dread.
Tom moved slowly and carefully, like if he were made of glass.
He lowered his voice softly and said:
“Stay in the hallway.” Don’t go near windows. “Don’t let anyone see the baby.”
I nodded, but I couldn’t say anything.
He slipped inside the kitchen, where the back door and side window looked out over the yard.
Then we heard it:
Footsteps.
Slow down. Gravel crunching. Getting closer to the house.
I could feel my heart beating so fiercely that it hurt my throat.
Tom looked through the edge of the kitchen window. I watched as his shoulders rose, tensed, and then stopped.
I made myself talk.
“What do you see?””
He didn’t answer right away.
His voice shook when he did.
“There’s a man out there.”
A lengthy time without sound.
My legs were numb and barely able to hold me up.
“What is he doing?”I said quietly.
Tom took a breath.
“He’s… just standing there.”
Standing. Keeping an eye on our residence.
Looking at us.
“Is he staring at the door?””
“No,” Tom answered. “He’s looking out the windows.” “Like he’s trying to see inside.”
Lily cried. I rocked her softly and hoped he couldn’t hear.
Sophia looked around the corner from the hallway.
“Mommy, what’s going on?””
I quickly waved her back.
“It’s okay, baby.” Just stay in your room. “Mommy’s coming.”
Tom was still talking softly to the window.
“He’s tall.” Dressed in a dark jacket. Put the hood up. “I can’t see his face.”
My blood turned to ice.
Then something even worse happened.
The man moved.
Not in the direction of the house.
Toward Jennifer’s car seat carrier, which was still on the porch where she had left Lily.
He bent down, touched it, felt the straps, and looked at the blanket that was over it.
I murmured, “No… no… no…” and shook.
Tom ducked away from the window because he was scared he had been seen.
He said in a raspy voice, “Call 911 back.” “Let them know he’s outside.” Say, “Get here now.”
My hand was shaking so much when I picked up the phone that I almost dropped it.
When the phone rang, Lily let out a small, piercing cry. A wail from a newborn that was scared.
We both stopped.
We heard the man stop moving outside.
Then—
Again, footsteps.
But this time…
coming approaching the home.
A lot. Not fast. With a purpose.
The dispatcher picked up the phone, and I talked quickly, my voice shaking uncontrollably.
“He’s here.” A man is in our yard. He wants to get into the house. “Please hurry, he’s looking for the baby—please—”
The dispatcher spoke in a calm, deep voice, like the voice they use to calm down someone who is drowning.
“Ma’am, please stay where you are. The police are already on their way. Don’t get involved. “Close all the doors and stay away from the windows.”
Tom said:
Close the door to the laundry.
I snuck out into the hallway with Lily in my arms, trying not to breathe too loudly.
After that—
A shadow went by the frosted glass pane of the laundry door.
A tall, black shape.
Right outdoors.
He stopped there for a few seconds.
I could hear the soft sound of his fingertips moving down the doorframe, like if he were looking for a way to get in.
My body froze.
From down the hall, Sophia’s bedroom door squeaked.
I ran to her and whispered harshly:
“Stay with me. Be quiet. “Be quiet.”
She nodded, and tears filled her eyes.
The footsteps walked again, this time from the front door to the back door.
Then—
Tap.
Touch.
Tap.
He tapped the glass.
Three slow, careful knocks, like someone checking how strong a barrier is.
Then, a voice came through the door.
Not yelling. Not asking for much.
Just a whisper.
“Jennifer? “Let me in.”
Sophia’s grip on my arm was like a vise.
Tom glanced at me with fear in his eyes.
He said in a low voice:
“Don’t… move.”
The voice said the same thing again, but louder this time.
“Jennifer, I know she’s in there.”
My stomach fell. My blood turned to ice.
He was aware.
He knew that Lily was there.
Tom murmured, “We have to hide her.”
But where? Where do you put a baby who screams at random times?
We heard the man move again, this time toward the front of the house.
Toward the windows of the living room.
The dispatcher was still on the phone.
“Ma’am, officers will be on your road in less than three minutes.” “Stay hidden.”
Three minutes.
The longest three minutes of my life.
Tom pointed us in the direction of the coat closet downstairs.
It was small and crowded, but if I squatted down, Sophia, Lily, and I could all fit.
We crept in and left the door open a little bit to let air in.
Tom crouched outside against the wall, holding his phone and the note, ready to present them to the police.
I held Sophia with my left arm and Lily with my right. They both shook against me as I tried to calm down my own breathing.
Footsteps went around the outside of the house.
Slow.
Checking each door.
Then—
The doorknob on the front door shook.
With a lot of force.
A low grunt.
Then harder.
More difficult.
More difficult.
Sophia whined faintly, so I put my hand over her mouth and said, “Shhh… it’s okay… you’re safe… don’t make a sound…”
The man growled under his breath.
“Hey, Jennifer!” Don’t do this! She’s MINE!”
Lily moved around.
Said they would cry.
No. No, no, no—
I put my cheek on the top of her head and whispered shaky nonsense to calm her down. I could feel tears running down my own face.
Then, from outside—
SIRENS.
The man came to a stop.
Be quiet.
Then quick steps—running.
Running away.
A few yards distant.
Into the woods.
Into the area.
I shook and sobbed till my breath left me.
Tom whispered angrily:
“They’re here.” They are here.
The blinds let in a lot of red and blue light.
The police knocked on the door.
“THIS IS THE POLICE!” Let me in!”
Tom opened the door and almost fell into the arms of the first cop.
“She’s upstairs,” he said. The baby is safe. He still lives in the area.
Officers surrounded our house, making a perimeter.
A woman police officer helped me and the kids get out of the closet.
She replied calmly, “You did everything right,” as she steadied my shaking hands. “You saved everyone.”
But I could barely hear her over the noise in my head.
Because one question stood out above all the others:
Who was the guy? And why did Jennifer assume he was coming for her child?
THE NOTE’S SECRET
Even after the police searched the yard and followed the man’s footprints into the woods behind our neighborhood, I couldn’t stop shaking. Lily held on to my shoulder, and her little breaths felt warm on my neck. Sophia wouldn’t let go of my shirt.
An officer led us to the living area inside the house while other officers checked every door and window.
Tom gave the lead detective, a tall lady named Detective Mara Keene, the small piece of paper that had been tucked in Lily’s diaper.
She carefully opened it up.
We could see Jenn’s unsteady handwriting.
It was a short note.
Very brief and scary.
Tom had read it before, but I couldn’t see it well because I was so scared.\
I did now.
“He found us.”
Please keep Lily safe.
Don’t let him take her if he comes.
He is not her dad.
“When he’s angry, he’s not human.”
Detective Keene read it twice.
Then a third time.
Her jaw got tight, but her voice kept steady.
“When did your sister give you the baby?””
I said, “About two hours ago.” “She said she was going to get a haircut, but she looked scared.”
“Did she say anything strange?” Did anyone follow her?”\
“No.” But she kept looking out the windows. “She jumped at every sound.”
Tom massaged his eyes.
“She said she only needed one hour.” “Just one.”
Detective Keene nodded slowly.
“And she hasn’t picked up the phone?”
“No.”
“Text messages?”“
“Nothing.” It claims they were delivered, but she’s not reading them.
The detective let out a breath. “Okay. We have people hunting for her car.
Sophia crawled onto my lap, still shaking.
“Mommy?””She whispered. “Was the bad man trying to take the baby?””
Detective Keene bent down to look her in the eye.
“We don’t know yet.” But we will make sure you are protected. All of you.”
Sophia nodded, but she kept her little hands tightly gripping my shirt.
THE QUESTIONS OF THE DETECTIVE
The investigator sat opposite from us while Sophia went upstairs with one of the female police and Lily slept in my arms.
She said, “I have to ask something hard.” “Does this guy know Jennifer?”
Tom and I looked at each other helplessly.
I answered, “We don’t know.” “She never talked about anyone. She didn’t even go out with anyone after Lily’s dad departed.
The detective tapped the note with her finger.
“This line: ‘He’s not her father.’
That’s a strange thing to make clear. Most people would say, “He IS the father.”
She was correct.
My arms were covered in goosebumps.
Tom bent over.
“What do you mean?””
“Right now, I’m not saying anything,” she remarked. “But we need to know who might think they have a right to this child.”
She looked at the note again.
“And why your sister said, ‘When he’s mad, he’s not human.'”
I felt a chill down my spine.
“That’s just a phrase, right?””Why?” I questioned. “It doesn’t mean—”
“It means she was scared,” the detective said softly.
Another cop came into the room before we could answer.
“Detective? “We found something outside.”
My stomach sank.
“What is it?”I asked.
The officer thought about it.
“A phone.”
My heart skipped a beat.
“Jennifer’s?”
“We think so.” It was close to the woods, at the border of your land.
Tom cursed beneath his breath.
Detective Keene looked at us.
“Did she call or text you before she left Lily with you?”“
I answered, “No.” “She just knocked and gave me the baby. She hardly said anything.
The detective and the officer looked at each other with serious faces.
“We’re looking at the phone right now,” she said. “But there’s more.”
Her voice got lower.
“A neighbor’s door camera saw a man following your sister’s car as she drove up your street.”
My whole body got frigid.
“Do you mean he came here after her?””I said softly.
Detective Keene nodded.
“He parked two homes down. He stayed in his car until she left. Then they got out and walked approaching your yard.
Tom’s face lost all its color.
“So he was watching the house before he even got to the doors.”
“Yes,” she said. “He was waiting. And he knew she had brought the kid here.
THE SCARY REALIZATION
Another officer came in and whispered something in the detective’s ear.
Detective Keene got tense.
Then she gave us a stern look.
“Jennifer’s phone… the last thing recorded on it is a voice memo.” She pressed record just before getting to your house.
She thought about it for a second, apparently deciding whether or not to play it for Tom and me.
“Please,” I said. “We need to know.”
She pushed the play button on the phone.
Jennifer’s voice shook and filled the room.
“Please, if anything happens, find someone to take Lily.”
He won’t stop.
He claimed he would grab what is his “no matter what.”
He knows where I am.
He knows it all.
“It was him if I go missing.”
The tape ended with a gasp, as if she had shoved the phone into her purse or someone had scared her.
I couldn’t breathe.
Tom put his hands over his face.
“Jesus, Jenn…”
Detective Keene and I looked at each other.
“We’re putting out an Amber Alert for both Jennifer and the suspect. And you two and the kids are coming with us to the station until we find him.
“Is he a threat?””I whispered.
She answered right away.
“Yes.”
Then, in a whisper, they added:
“And he’s getting desperate.”
THE FIRST BREAK IN THE CASE
As we were getting ready to depart, a cop rushed over.
Detective, we received a hit on the prints from the carrier outside. They are the same as a man named—
The cop spoke more quietly, but I still heard the name.
“Elias Warren.”
Detective Keene stopped moving.
Tom frowned. “Do you know him?””
The detective nodded slowly, and his jaw got tighter.
“Yes.”
“Who is he?””I whispered.”
She let out a breath and steadied herself.
“We’ve been looking for him for a long time.”
My heart rate went up.
“What does that mean?””
I had never seen a police officer gaze at me like that before.
dread and a sense of urgency.
“It means,” she added softly, “he didn’t go after your sister first.”
“THE TRUTH THAT FREEZES THE BLOOD”
The home became eerily quiet.
Not quiet—still.
Like the air itself was holding its breath.
The baby monitor made a buzzing noise on the counter.
The number I had dialed but never transmitted lit up my phone screen.
The note, which was Jennifer’s hurried remarks, was on the kitchen table like evidence at a crime scene.
Tom closed all three doors, then the windows, and finally pulled the drapes shut with shaking hands.
“Okay,” he said in a low voice. “Talk to me.” What did Jennifer mean when she said he’s coming for her? Who is she talking about?”
I wanted to say something.
But my throat wouldn’t let me say a single syllable.
Because I had hidden the facts deep down, on purpose, and out of desperation.
Something I thought would never matter again.
Something I hoped would stay dead.
I fell into a chair, holding the message.
“I should have told you. I thought it was done. I assumed he had… left.
Tom looked at me in shock.
“Who left?”
My voice broke.
“Jennifer’s ex. Father of Lily. He was… not stable. Dominating. He went with her everywhere. Before Lily was born, I helped her secure a restraining order. But he promised to “take back what was his.” Then he left. No address. No contact. Nothing.
Tom had a hard time swallowing.
“Now she’s putting notes in diapers.”
I nodded and shook a lot.
Suddenly, there was a quiet knock on the front door.
Not loud.
Not mean.
Almost nice.
Tap.
Touch.
Tap.
We all three froze.
Tom mouthed without making a sound:
“DO NOT.” “GO.”
Sophia held on to my leg. Her little nails hurt my skin. I gently put my hand over her lips so she wouldn’t make a sound.
Another knock.
A little louder.
“Jennifer?A voice of a man called.
My blood froze.
It wasn’t a nice voice.
It wasn’t worried or perplexed.
It was quiet.
Measured.
Knowing.
“I know she’s in there.”
I almost dropped Lily.
Tom moved closer to the entrance, but stayed a safe distance away. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t take a breath.
The man chuckled softly.
“She really shouldn’t have run,” you know.
Then he turned the knob on the door.
The metal clicked and shook a little, which meant it was locked.
Thank God.
But then he said softly, “Locks don’t stop me.”
Tom pointed to me and said, “Back room, now.”
I moved rapidly, keeping Lily close to my chest and pushing Sophia ahead of me.
Before I got to the hallway—
The handle on the door turned violently.
The metal broke.
The wood broke.
The whole door shook on its hinges.
Sophia gasped.
I pushed her head against my tummy to protect her eyes.
“Police are on their way!” Tom cried through the door.”
The man laughed, and the sound was so empty that it made the air cold.
“No, they’re not.”
His voice slipped right through the barriers.
I believed him.
I didn’t know I was crying until a tear fell on Lily’s blanket.
Tom’s hand found mine.
He said, “Forget about hiding.” “We’re leaving.”
He pointed to the sliding back door, which was our best bet.
But halfway there, the back motion light came on.
He was also there.
A shadowy figure.
Not moving at all.
In the yard, they were silhouetted.
Looking at us.
Waiting.
I felt my knees give way.
Tom grabbed me and pulled me back.
“He… he walked around the house,” I said quietly. “On both sides. All of the doors.
Tom’s voice changed; he was finally scared. “He planned this.”
There was a gentle blast of static on the baby monitor.
Then a voice came.
A voice of a man.
Not ours.
Not from our home.
From the other baby monitor that Jennifer always had with her.
The one she got today.
“Jennifer won’t be with you.”
My sight got blurry.
I thought I was going to pass out.
Tom pulled the monitor out of the wall and flung it across the kitchen. It broke, and the wires came out.
Sophia cried quietly into my sweatshirt.
Lily whined, knowing how scared we all were.
The man walked slowly and steadily around the home, brushing gravel and leaves as he went, like a predator circling.
Tom murmured, “He’s playing with us.” “He wants us to be afraid.”
I responded, “He already won,” my voice breaking. “He already has Jennifer. “Next is us.”
Tom grabbed my face and made me look into his.
“No.” He doesn’t get anything. We’re going to save these youngsters.
All of a sudden—
No sound.
No sounds of footsteps.
No knocks.
There was no breathing behind the door.
Nothing.
What was worse?
Tom and I looked at each other in shock.
Then—
A shadow went by the kitchen window.
Just a blur.
Then—
Another.
Then—
His voice, just a few inches from the glass:
“You should never have gotten involved.”
I yelled.
Tom pushed us into the pantry, slammed the door, and stood in front of it like a human barrier.
I heard metal outside.
Tools.
Itching.
Something being forced.
Then—
The entrance door flew open with a loud CRACK.
Wood that is splitting.
Breaking hinges.
My whole body shook.
He was inside.
And the way he walked—slow, easygoing, and purposeful—made it clear:
He knew exactly where we were.
“THE NIGHT EVERYTHING WENT WRONG”
He walked into our house like he had lived there his whole life.
He walked slowly.
Measured.
Soft enough to be handled…
but loud enough to let us know he wanted us to hear him coming.
Tom pushed his back against the pantry door and put all of his weight on it.
I held Lily close to my breast, and her tiny heart beat in time with mine.
Sophia buried her face in my calf and shook so violently that I could feel her bones vibrating.
Every squeak of the floorboards made me more nervous.
Then—
His words boomed down the hall.
“I know where you are.”
My blood froze.
He wasn’t yelling.
He wasn’t in a hurry.
He wasn’t even mad.
He sounded sure of himself.
Sure.
It seemed as if the end had already been written.
Tom said to me:
“Call 911.” “Quietly.”
I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking as I took out my phone. I fell to the floor and hid under bags of flour and canned soup. I covered the phone light with my sweater.
But I couldn’t even unlock it—
There was a quiet click on the opposite side of the cupboard door.
Not the knob.
Not wood.
Metal.
A blade tapping lightly.
Once.
Two times.
Three times.
Like a knock.
Tom’s jaw was tight, and the muscles in his neck were bulging.
He didn’t go away.
He didn’t break.
But I could see the horror in his eyes.
He put his lips on the crack in the door and tried to sound firm:
“The police are—”
The man slammed the knife against the door with a loud THUNK.
The wood broke a few inches from Tom’s face.
I yelled.
Tom pushed his whole body harder against the door and grunted as the blade went further into the wood.
“Tom!””I cried.
“Shh!””he hissed. “Don’t let him hear you!”
But he had already done it.
He laughed, the same frigid, almost funny sound.
“You think you can keep them safe from me?””
Another try.
Another violent crack.
The door to the pantry shook so strongly that bags of flour fell off the shelf.
Sophia started to breathe too fast.
Her breaths came in short, broken gasps.
I softly held her cheeks. “Look at me.” “Look at me, baby.”
She looked into my eyes with fear.
“Okay, we’re leaving now.” Don’t look at the door. “Look at me.”
Tom shrieked in pain behind her. The knife tip hit his shoulder through the wood.
I wanted to escape away.
I wanted to yell.
I wanted to fall down.
But I grabbed my baby tighter, covered her eyes with my palm, and whispered over and over:
“Mommy’s here.” “Mommy’s here.”
Then, all of a sudden, the footsteps stopped.
At first, it was slow.
Then quicker.
Then—
No sound.
Tom held his breath.
I grasped mine.
Ten seconds.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Be quiet.
Not loud enough.
Tom turned his head and listened very carefully.
“Did he go?””
My stomach turned.
“No,” I said softly. “He’s waiting.”
And I was right.
The next sound was very quiet—almost not heard:
The gentle squeak of a window opening somewhere down the corridor.
He was in the bedroom.
He was trying to find another method to reach us.
Tom’s eyes got bigger.
“We run. Now.
He opened the pantry door just enough to see out. The hallway was empty.
But not safe.
We could hear the visitor moving through the home, brushing against walls and shoes whispering across the carpet.
Tom took hold of my wrist.
“Back door.” “Be quiet.”
He took Sophia’s hand.
I had Lily in my arms.
We moved like shadows: slowly, without breathing, and scared.
But as soon as we got to the back door—
As soon as Tom touched the lock—
There was a man’s reflection in the glass.
He was behind us.
Standing in the hall.
Not moving.
Smiling.
Tom didn’t think twice.
He threw his full body at the sliding door.
The glass broke outward.
The room filled with cold air.
We crouched and rushed through the hole.
“GO!””Tom yelled.
We ran fast into the yard.
The branches hit our legs.
Leaves flew.
My lungs hurt.
Behind us—
He went after.
He didn’t run.
He walked.
Be calm.
Not in a hurry.
Like he already knew how this chase would end.
“Keep going!””Tom yelled.
We got to the gate, and Tom pulled it open and pushed us out into the street.
A automobile drove past, which was a miracle because it was the only one in sight.
Tom waved his arms around like crazy.
“STOP! Call the cops!”
The automobile screeched to a stop.
The driver, a young woman, looked horrified at our injured arms, the infant in my arms, and the fear on Tom’s face.
“He’s in there!” He’s attempting to—
A loud snap stopped him.
We all turned our heads toward the home.
The man stood in the entryway that was broken.
Looking at us.
His shadow was framed by broken wood.
He didn’t go outside.
He just stayed there.
Still.
No sound.
Scary.
She shut her doors and got her phone.
“I’m calling 911. Get in the automobile!”
We all got in.
She drove away so quickly that the tires screamed.
I hugged Lily and Sophia tightly, shaking so hard that I could hardly breathe.
Tom kept turning in his seat to see the home getting smaller in the distance.
“He just… let us go,” he said in a low voice.
“No,” I answered, knowing that was true deep inside.
“He let us go.”
THE AFTERMATH
The police got there in a few minutes.
But they saw that the house was empty.
A door that doesn’t work.
A window that is broken.
There are scratches on the walls.
And a knife was left on the floor of our kitchen.
He was gone.
Just like that.
Hours later, Jennifer was found alive but terrified, hiding behind a trash behind the salon.
“He followed me there,” she cried. “He claimed he would take her if I ran. I concealed the note since it was my only opportunity.
She couldn’t say his name.
She couldn’t even talk without shaking.
No one ever caught the man.
Not that night.
Not the day after.
Not in the next few months.
He just disappeared from the world like smoke.
A BITTERSWEET ENDING
Lily is okay.
Jennifer stays with us now and is slowly putting her life back together.
We offer motion sensors, cameras, alarms, and deadbolts.
Sophia sleeps with the lights on.
She whispers sometimes when she crawls into our bed:
“Mommy, is the bad man coming back?””
And every night I say the same thing:
“No.”
But what is the truth?
I don’t know.
Because sometimes, on calm nights,
when the house settles…
When the breeze hits the windows just right…
I swear I hear a soft tap.
Once.
Two times.
Three times.
Just like a knock.
And I recall what he said right before we got away.
“You should never have gotten involved.”
I hold my kids closer.
Because scars can fade—
but they never totally get better.
And some bad dreams…
never really end.
