Tell the story again and again

Until you don't need to tell it anymore

We had an incident earlier this week that shook me. I had left my daughter with her dad for bedtime and went out with a friend for the evening. She’s used to her dad putting her down so I didn’t think anything of it. But before I left town to drive home I had this strange feeling sweep over me, like a cold wind seeping between stones. What if she woke up and no one heard her?

I tried to shake it. She hadn’t woken up in the middle of the night in ages and, even though he’d probably be sleeping, her dad had the monitor with him. Still, I felt unshakably uneasy as I drove home.

Crunching over the snow-laden driveway I walked up to the house, into the door and…I heard her, crying with panicked exhaustion.