Chapter 2: The First Night Under One Roof
Chapter 2: The First Night Under One Roof
The first night was harder than Emmett imagined.
The house had enough rooms, but the children barely touched the beds.
They slept sitting up.
They kept their shoes beside them.
They hid pieces of bread under their pillows.
Emmett found Caleb doing it.
The little boy froze.
“I wasn't stealing,” Caleb whispered.
Emmett knelt down.
“I didn't say you were.”
“They always said food disappears when you're not careful.”
Emmett looked at the tiny piece of bread in his hand.
Then he looked around the room.
Nine children.
Nine children who had learned survival before they learned childhood.
That evening, Emmett made a decision.
The next morning, he removed the old lock from the pantry door.
“There is always food here,” he told them.
The children stared.
“Even if we eat too much?” Millie asked.
Emmett nodded.
“Especially then.”
May you like
For the first time...
A child smiled at him.
