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Outside is now terribly quiet, and it goes unspoken what it must mean that they no longer hear Evan’s cries.

Ashley shudders out a weary breath that sounds more like a swallowed scream. “I’m sorry. For what happened to your cousin,” she says to Jim—a small peace offering.

He gives a curt nod before placing his hat back onto his head. “When’s the little one coming along?” he asks, gesturing toward her stomach.

Her facial expression does not change as she looks down where her hands rest; in fact, she looks even more woeful. “The end of next month,” she replies, and her lip wobbles. “Evan thinks he’ll be born on New Year’s Day.”

Kimi has opened her mouth to say something when an urgent knocking pounds on the door.

Seven

to try not to feel so blue.

Jane is frozen, staring at the doors with the others. “Who is that?” she whispers.

There is a dark figure outlined on the other side of the glass, clinging to the shadows just beyond the reach of where the indoor lights cast outward. With the low glow of the streetlamp on the opposite end of the parking lot, there is little light to make out any clear features from where they all huddle back near Billy’s body.

Winnie growls, stalking from Jane’s side toward the barricaded door, and Jackson takes a quick step forward to grab the dog by the collar.

“Maybe it’s the police?” suggests Kimi, though the way she grips her pocketknife does little to inspire belief.

Jane realizes they’ve all barely made a sound, as if the overhead lights don’t already have them perfectly exposed to the observing world of darkness outside, as if whatever is out there isn’t already watching their every move.

Jackson shakes his head. “There aren’t any police lights,” he says before nearing the table propped against the entrance. He squints and leans closer to the glass, bracing his palms against it.

The knocking starts again, causing them all to jump back. This time, a pale clenched fist is visible on the other side of the glass, flecked with spots of red.

“Let me in. Let me in!”

Only a second passes before Ashley launches to her feet as quickly as her very pregnant form allows. She rushes toward the barricade. “Evan!” she cries out, reaching over the table and pressing her hands against the smudged glass. “Evan, baby, I’m here!”

Thomas’s mouth falls slack. Jackson’s own tightened muscles shake loose, leaving his shoulders to sag as he stares at the pale hand against the door with a look of sheer confusion.

“Impossible,” Thomas mutters as the knocking rattles off for a third time.

“We have to move this. Help me move this,” Ashley says, glancing back at the others. “Hello!” she snaps, and Thomas can only nod like someone moving through water. He grips one end of the table while Jackson grips the other.

“Wait,” Kimi says, sharply enough that they pause. Her posture has gone painfully rigid as she points at the doors uneasily. “Maybe we should wait.”

Ashley’s eyebrows knit together tightly. “What are you talking about? My husband’s hurt—he needs to get inside,” she says, facing the glass. “Evan, just hold on, baby. Hold on, okay?”

She tosses a glare at Thomas and Jackson. “Would you two move already?”

Winnie lets out a shrill bark as her long tail tucks between her legs. The dog lowers her muzzle then, growling at the door before darting back and knocking into Jane’s legs.

A new chill touches the air, clammy and lifeless, like the fog covering a graveyard. “Wait,” Kimi repeats with wide, depthless eyes. “I don’t think—something doesn’t feel right. What if it’s not Evan?”

Jim passes her, holding up a hand to keep her from straying too close to the door. The heavy soles of his work boots clunk against the floor as he steps toward the entrance with the shotgun poised in his arms. “Evan, son, why don’t you just step forward a bit, huh? Let us get a look at you.”

Outside, the figure’s dark outline remains utterly still beyond the radius of light that seeps out from the store’s interior. Jane casts her eyes around their small group, accounting for each frightened face, and yet it feels like one of their shadows has peeled off and is now facing them fully formed on the other side of the door.

“This is ridiculous,” Ashley snaps, though her hands have slipped down from the glass to rest unsurely at her sides. “Evan,” she says more quietly, as if using a gentler approach might somehow make the air around them feel less dead. “Evan, just come closer, baby. Come into the light.”

Jane cuts a look to Kimi, noting the startling panic in the cashier’s eyes, like she’s been handed a ticking bomb with less than a minute to disarm it. Jim stands close beside her, one hand placed on her shoulder with a familiar grip of protection.

The form outside steps out from the shadows, and Evan becomes visible on the other side of the glass. His face is ashen as he stares blankly through to his wife, glasses cracked and crooked.

A sob catches in Ashley’s throat as a tidal wave of relief collapses through her shoulders. “Open the door,” she says. “Open it now!”