NO! Thomas said. Not a word! Promise me! Promise me you won’t!

“No, it’s her!” Eli said aloud. “It’s her, I hear her voice! It’s my—”

No, Eli. You can’t. You mustn’t. Do you understand? It might be a trap! I told you, there’s trouble on the line!

But Eli would listen to no more of it. Grabbing the door handle, he twisted it hard and threw his weight forward. The door swung open easily and he spilled out into the hall, tripping over his feet and landing in a lake of light that had already sprung forward to find him there. He lifted his head and stared into the dazzling center of the light, tears running down either side of his face, unable to see what was behind him.

“M-Mommy…?”

The light swung down and in an instant she was kneeling there with him, his mother, holding him tightly and kissing him, saying his name and crying. He latched on to her, felt how hard her heart was beating, and immediately began crying, too—with fear, love, and throbbing waves of newly realized relief.

“I’m sorry, Mommy. I’m sorry I got lost. I won’t do it again, I promise. I love you.”

“Shh,” she said. “It’s okay. It’s okay now. Mommy’s here. Oh, thank God, thank God…” She picked him up and squeezed him, and he almost couldn’t breathe, but that was okay because it meant she was real and not just something he was seeing in his head. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“No…” Eli’s mind flashed to the hands that had reached in earlier, the ticklish feeling against his skin, but he pushed the memory away. He was all right now, his mommy was here and she was happy, and he felt bad enough about running away. No reason to bring that up, not now.

She kissed him and loosened her grip a little but didn’t put him down. “You’re sure?”

“I was hiding. He came to where I was but then he went away.”

“Oh, thank you, God.” She looked like she was going to start crying again but it was just a single tear that escaped from her eye and she just let it hang there like a tiny beautiful stone. “I’m so glad…. I’m just so glad. I can’t tell you what I was thinking. I’m never going to lose you again.”

“Mommy?”

“Yes, baby?”

“Where’s Daddy?”

“Daddy?” At first the question didn’t seem to make sense to her, the way things sometimes didn’t if Eli wasn’t saying his words clearly enough. Except he knew that she understood what he’d asked, so why did she take so long to answer?

“I don’t know, honey.”

“Did the Snowman get him?”

His mommy looked at him and shook her head slowly. It didn’t make him feel as good as he’d hoped, and for some reason he found himself wishing she would’ve said the word “no” instead of shaking her head in that haunted, silent way. But she didn’t say anything.