Chapter 7

It took him a good while before he returned to his senses. He pulled out his phone to send me a message.

"Hattie, why is the window at home gone? Where did you go?"

"Don't scare me. The broken window must have been an accident, right? Where are you? Are you at your dad's? I'll come pick you up."

I could see his fingers trembling as he composed the messages. Cold sweat kept forming on the surface of his skin, and a bad feeling gnawed at him.

Now that the truth was right in front of him, he had no choice but to start believing it.

As if on cue, someone knocked on the door.

His eyes lit up with delight, and he dashed over to open the door.

"Hattie!"

Standing at the door was the building's maintenance team.

"Mr. Keane, the glass in your window was blown out. We're here to measure the dimensions, to facilitate ordering a replacement."

Clinging to this last sliver of hope, Calvin asked, "Did anyone else in the building lose their window?"

The staff shook his head. "No, it's only y