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His mouth was moving. I couldn’t hear him.

And then I could.

“—babygirl. Come on. Come back.”

I blinked.

Everyone was staring at me.

Chief looked furious.

Until I saw his mouth.

It wasn’t anger.

“Did you hear a voice coming out of there?” I asked.

He dragged in a breath that sounded painful.

His hands stayed where they were.

“Hazel,” he said. My name broke slightly in his mouth.

I looked at him.

His eyes moved over my face, searching for something. Whatever he found didn’t seem to be enough.

“Look at me,” he said again.

“I am.” I blinked at him slowly.

His next breath shook. That frightened me.

Chief didn’t shake.

I’d seen that look before, though. When I was nine. After they’d brought me home, when I’d been close enough for him to touch and he’d still looked afraid of losing me.

I was on my knees in the dirt beside the wall. My sandwich lay open on the concrete behind him. I couldn’t remember putting it down.

Sadie crouched beside us. All the humor had gone out of her face.

A woman wearing a staff lanyard was telling people to move away.

Nobody was talking about football now.

“What happened?” I asked.

Chief closed his eyes for a second. Only a second.

When he opened them, he was still looking at me.

“Stay with me,” he said.

“I’m right here.”

His thumbs moved against my cheeks. There was a faint tremor in them.

I had no idea where I’d gone.