Beneath the Surface of Safety

Previously

…I crumpled the note in my fist, the paper digging into my palm. The quiet suburban street suddenly felt like a battlefield. The ordinary life I had so carefully constructed was about to be tested, and I knew, with a chilling certainty, that the person standing here, the ordinary parent, the loving partner, was not the only one who would emerge from this. The shadows were stirring, and this time, I wouldn’t let them touch what was mine.