Chapter 8: Storm Night

I did not tell Kurt what I had seen in Lowell's face.

I came home, kissed my daughter, and said the store was a dead end.

He watched me and said nothing.

That night the storm hit at two in the morning.

Thunder cracked over the roof, and I was out of bed before I was awake.

Maisy was screaming.

I found her sitting up in the dark with both fists in her hair.

"The man took my soup!" she sobbed. "The man took my soup and he won't give it back!"

"Hush, baby. It's a dream."

"He said I'm hungry forever!"

I gathered her up.

She was burning hot and shaking all over.

Kurt appeared in the doorway in a gray T-shirt, his hair standing up.

He crossed the room in two steps and took her from my arms without a word.

"I've got you," he said. "I've got you, bug. Daddy's right here."

She turned her face into his neck and cried until she hiccuped.

He walked her back and forth across the room, rubbing slow circles on her back.

Thunder rolled again.

"It's okay," he said. "The sky is just moving furniture."

She giggled wetly into his collar.

"The sky is loud."

"The sky is very rude."

It took twenty minutes before her breathing went slow.

He laid her down and tucked the rabbit in.

I stood at the foot of the bed and could not make myself leave.

In the hallway, he leaned against the wall and let his head drop back.

The only light was the lightning in the window at the end.

"She's never done that before?" he asked.

"Not like that. She's been scared since the hunger. She's been scared of everything."

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