Eat.

Unlocking the front door to see Joe standing in the hallway was not what I expected. I blinked and took a breath of relief. “What are you doing here? I was looking for you because you were gone!”

“My car broke down last night and I had a friend of mine tow it back here I did some last minute work. Where’s Ellie.”

“She’s here.”

“No she’s not. I checked her room but she wasn’t here.”

The blood left my face, I ran up the stairs and checked the room only to see that he was right. Ellie wasn’t in the room. I rubbed my face and walked back down the stairs to see Joe was standing in the living room confused, “What’s going on?”

“I told Ellie to stay here for five minutes while I-”

“Hold on a hot minute, you left Elizabeth alone?!”

“It was for five minutes! What about you?! Disappearing without saying a damn word!”

“I don’t have to explain myself to a damn kid! The power lines were killed by the storm last night.”

I ran my hand through my hair hastily, snatching the phone off the couch and dialing Detective Frost’s number.

“Who are you calling now?”

“The pizza man, who do you think?” I snapped.

“Don’t get sassy with me boy, I wasn’t the one who left her alone!”

“Really? Because you sure weren’t here this morning, leaving her alone.”

“With you! I trusted that you would keep her safe!”

“I tried my best for about two weeks!”

“Well you didn’t try hard enough, now did you?”

I gritted my teeth and looked at the ceiling, blinking back the moisture that was developing in my eyes.

“Talk to me.”

“She’s gone,” I croaked, “Ellie. He took her.”

“Brian?”

“Yeah it’s me. You need to come or something.”

“We’re on our way. Don’t touch anything.”

I hung up and fell back on the couch, my head sinking into my hands as I cried softly.

How stupid of me to think that I could protect anyone.