Chapter 6 – The Boy on the Porch
Daniel's world stopped.
The creek.
The wind.
The sound of Detective Collins shouting through the phone.
Everything faded.
The only thing he could see was the boy standing on the porch.
Thin.
Barefoot.
His oversized blue T-shirt hung loosely over a body that looked underfed. Blond hair fell into eyes that were unmistakably familiar.
Eyes Daniel had seen every morning for six years.
"Leo?" he whispered.
The boy stared at him.
Confusion crossed his face.
Then hope.
"Dad..."
Daniel dropped his phone into the grass and splashed through the creek without thinking.
The icy water barely slowed him.
"Leo!"
He reached the opposite bank and climbed toward the cabin.
The boy took one hesitant step forward.
Then another.
His lips trembled.
"You came back."
Daniel wrapped him in a crushing embrace.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke.
Leo felt frighteningly light.
His shoulders were all bone beneath the thin shirt.
Daniel buried his face in his son's hair, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"I've been looking for you every day."
Leo clung to him.
"I knew you would."
Back at the house, Detective Collins had already dispatched every available deputy toward the creek.
When Daniel's phone went dead, she didn't hesitate.
"Move!"
Patrol cars sped down the dirt road while officers on foot cut through the woods.
Daniel pulled back just enough to look at Leo's face.
A faded scar crossed his left eyebrow.
Bruises in different stages of healing marked his arms.
His heart broke.
"Who did this to you?"
Leo looked toward the cabin.
"He'll hear."
Daniel turned.
The front door stood open.
The cabin was silent.
Too silent.
"Who's inside?"
Leo's breathing quickened.
"He went to the tunnel."
"What tunnel?"
"The one under Aunt Patricia's house."
Daniel felt a chill crawl up his spine.
"There really is a tunnel?"
Leo nodded.
"It comes here."
"Who built it?"
Leo lowered his eyes.
"I don't know."
"Who kept you here?"
Before Leo could answer, a floorboard creaked inside the cabin.
Daniel instinctively stepped in front of his son.
A voice drifted from the darkness.
"So..."
"I wondered how long it would take."
An elderly woman slowly emerged into the doorway.
She looked to be in her seventies, wearing a faded gray cardigan and thick glasses.
At first glance, she looked harmless.
Until Daniel noticed the revolver hanging loosely at her side.
She sighed.
"You weren't supposed to find him today."
Daniel pulled Leo farther behind him.
"Stay back."
The woman didn't raise the gun.
Instead, she looked at Leo with disappointment.
"You disobeyed me."
Leo shrank behind his father.
"I was trying to go home."
"You were home."
"No," Leo whispered.
"My home is with my mom and dad."
For the first time, anger flashed across the woman's face.
"They abandoned you."
"They never stopped looking."
"You don't know what they told you."
"I know my dad came."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"Who are you?"
The woman smiled sadly.
"My name doesn't matter anymore."
"It matters to me."
She ignored the question.
Instead, she looked directly at Leo.
"You shouldn't have answered when he called your name."
Leo's eyes widened.
"I didn't."
"You did."
"I only whispered..."
The woman's expression changed.
She looked almost frightened.
"No..."
She whispered to herself.
"Then who led him here?"
A cold silence settled over the clearing.
Daniel frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
The old woman slowly turned toward the woods behind the cabin.
Her hands began to tremble.
"It wasn't supposed to happen again."
A branch snapped in the trees.
Then another.
Heavy footsteps approached from the direction of Patricia's house.
The old woman's face drained of color.
"They're early."
Daniel heard engines in the distance.
Police.
Closing in fast.
But whoever was coming through the woods was much closer.
Leo grabbed Daniel's sleeve with shaking fingers.
"Dad..."
"They're the ones you have to run from."
The brush exploded apart.
May you like
Three masked figures emerged from the tree line.
And behind them walked the gray-bearded man from Patricia's house, smiling as though he had expected this reunion all along.
