Leo laughed nervously. “Probably interference.”
“Nobody’s back there,” Leo said. But his voice cracked. wrong turn full
Then the singing stopped.
Mara stared at the rearview. The road behind them was gone. Not faded — gone. Replaced by a solid wall of bark and shadow, as if the forest had closed like a mouth. Leo laughed nervously
Inside lay a little girl’s shoe. Muddy. Pale pink. And next to it, a photograph of Mara — age seven, missing a front tooth, standing in front of a house she’d forgotten she ever lived in. missing a front tooth
She’d never shown that photo to anyone.