Imogene ScottLater that nightThe house is quiet—well, mostly.We’re all curled up in the living room watching tv. Theo’s nestled between Damien and me, legs sprawled over both our laps like a lazy prince. Isla’s curled up in the oversized armchair with her favorite blanket—pink, sparkly, and ragged from love. And Lily, of course, is sitting with her arms crossed and her nose turned up like she’s way too grown for movie night, but she hasn’t moved from her spot next to me since the opening credits started.Some animated movie plays—something with talking animals and way too many fart jokes. I’m not really watching. My eyes keep drifting to each of them. Their faces lit up, mouths moving, popcorn fingers reaching across laps. This. This is peace.Theo suddenly turns his little head up toward me. “Mommy, do you think fish ever get sad they can’t blink?”I blink. Damien chokes on his water.“What?” I say, trying not to laugh.“I mean,” Theo continues seriously, “if I couldn’t blink,
Imogene Scott Six years later“Lily! If I see one more of your dirty plates in the sink, I swear, I’m gonna make you eat dinner off the floor like a raccoon!”I’m holding a half-peeled carrot, my apron is splattered with sauce, and I’ve got Theo hanging off my hip like a monkey while Isla screams in the background because apparently, he took the pink marker.“I didn’t do anything!” Theo yells, squirming as I plop him down. “She hit me first!”“You pulled my hair!” Isla shrieks.“Guys!” I rub my temples, “For the love of all things holy, stop acting like you were raised by goats. Please.”“Mom,” Lily calls from the couch with the sass of a ten-year-old who thinks she’s thirty. “I was gonna rinse the plate, but Theo distracted me.”“By breathing?” I deadpan.She shrugs. “He exists too loud.”“Theo!” Isla whines again, chasing after him with a Barbie in hand like she’s about to bash him with it. “Give it back!”“Not until you say I’m the best brother ever!”“You’re the worst brother
Imogene ScottI feel it before I see it.A soft twitch. The slightest movement beneath my cheek.I jolt upright, eyes snapping open. My neck aches from sleeping in the chair, and my hand is still wrapped around his. Damien’s fingers are curling slowly around mine.My heart starts pounding.“Damien?” My voice is barely a whisper.His eyelids flutter. Then those dark eyes, still a little glassy, still groggy, finally find mine.A lazy, familiar smile curls at the corner of his mouth. “Told you I’d carry your burden,” he rasps.I break.I don’t even try to hold it in. Tears fall freely down my cheeks, and I laugh and cry all at once as I clutch his hand tighter and lean forward to press my forehead against his.“Don’t ever do that again,” I sob. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again.”“I’m not going anywhere,” he murmurs. His voice is hoarse, but his thumb brushes my hand gently. “You think I’d miss meeting our babies?”I shake my head, still crying. “I was so scared.”“I know,”
Imogene ScottThey wheel Damien away before I can even kiss his forehead.“Wait, please, wait…” My voice is too broken, too small. The doors swing shut in my face, and he disappears behind sterile white.I’m frozen for a second, like I can’t figure out what to do with my limbs. My hands shake as I stare down at them. There’s blood on my palms, his blood. It’s drying at the edges, thick and coppery in the center. My fingertips tremble as I lower them to my lap, blinking past the sting in my eyes.I bury my face in my hands and let the sob escape my throat.I don’t even care who hears me.I pace. Back and forth across the white tiles of the emergency waiting room, under the humming fluorescent lights that make everything look like it’s happening in some kind of nightmare. My chest is tight. Every breath is a battle. I still feel the weight of his body falling against me. The way he grunted when the bullet hit him. The way he looked at me—like I was his whole world.He didn’t even thi
Damien Shaw We arrive just after sunset. The abandoned industrial site sprawls ahead like a graveyard of rusted steel. I step out of the black van, boots crunching against gravel, heart pounding so hard it drowns out the voices on the comms. The SWAT team fans out around me—silent, disciplined, lethal. My eyes scan every corner, every shadow. Somewhere inside that building is Imogene. Somewhere in there are Kia and Lily.I adjust the earpiece, my voice low but sharp. “You know the plan. Secure the perimeter. Locate Kia and Lily. No one pulls a damn trigger unless I say so.”A chorus of affirmatives answers back.The building groans with the wind as I move in, weapon holstered but ready. It smells like mildew and oil—old decay wrapped in cold air. The walls are lined with corroded pipes, graffiti, and silence. Flashlights cut through the dark like blades. I don’t breathe easy until I hear a whispered voice in my earpiece.“Targets located. Trunk of a black sedan. Both alive, sed
Imogene ScottDamien’s knuckles are white around the steering wheel as we drive home from the airport.I glance down at my lap, then slowly reach over and place my hand on his. His jaw is tight, that muscle twitching again. The one that always flares up when he’s on the edge of unraveling. I trace a gentle circle on the back of his hand with my thumb.“Are you okay?” I ask.He doesn’t look at me when he answers. “Yeah. Everything’s fine.”I don’t believe him—not even a little. But I nod anyway. Maybe he’s just tired. Maybe he’s just anxious to be back home, to get back to normal, whatever normal even means anymore.But when we pull into the driveway and I open the door, the quiet hits me like a slap. A heavy, unnatural stillness. My heart lurches.No Lily running out the front door with that wild hair and crooked smile.No Sheila at the window, waving politely with a cup of tea in hand.Nothing.Inside, the silence grows louder.“Lily?” I call, voice cracking. “Kia?”I kick off my sho