The Boy in the Gray Hoodie

33...

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33...

When I opened my eyes again, Lisa was gone.

            She said she would be back. She'd promised. But the room was dark now, and she wasn't there. The only light came from under the bathroom door.

            Feeling sore, I turned over and winced at the huge crack that ran up the wall and across the ceiling. I had done that.

            Something rattled, and I glanced over to see someone pushing open the bathroom door. It was a small person with dark hair. Caleb. Marley's son.

            I watched him silently as he approached the bed and placed his elbows on the mattress, staring at me with rounded eyes.

            "Are you sick?" he asked after a moment of quiet had passed between us.

            I shook my head, sitting up slowly in spite of how dizzy it made me feel. "Not anymore," I answered.

            "Oh." Caleb frowned.

            We stared at each other a little longer. The dizziness passed and I felt comfortable enough to brace myself against the pillows. Caleb's gaze was unyielding. He just kept looking at me. But I didn't feel nervous or threatened by him at all, and the easy silence felt relieving after such a long day.

            Without warning, Caleb grabbed the blankets and pulled himself onto the bed, sitting on his knees in front of me. "Why are you wet?" he asked, touching his own head.

            I pointed to the shower.

            Caleb's gaze followed my finger. "You took a bath?" his face wrinkled in consternation for a moment before his eyes lit up. "Stanley!" he cried, flopping onto his stomach to grab something from under the folds of the blankets. He pulled out the rubber ducky I'd found in the bathroom earlier and squeezed it a few times, smiling. "This is Stanley. He's my bath-buddy."

            Caleb started dragging Stanley across the blankets and making little noises. "Quack, quack!" he shouted, pressing Stanley against the side of my knee.

            I blinked.

            Caleb looked up at me calmly. "Stanley's biting your leg."

            I swallowed, glancing between them several times before tucking my leg underneath me. "No," I frowned.

            Caleb snickered and flopped onto his back, kicking his legs into the air while he laughed. "Ducks don't bite, silly!" he cried. Then his laughing stopped abruptly and he rolled off the bed, hurrying over to the window. "The moon is out!" he cried, slapping the glass.