Chapter 10 - Drew Finally Lets Go
Drew remained in the hospital for five days.
Doctors placed his leg in a cast.
Lily gained enough strength to leave after four.
Peter took them both home.
The front-door hinge was still loose.
The toolbox remained on the porch exactly where he had abandoned it.
Drew stared at the wooden boards.
The place where he had collapsed.
Peter noticed.
“We can use the back door.”
Drew shook his head.
“No.”
He wanted to enter through the same doorway he had fought to reach.
Peter carried Lily.
Drew used crutches.
Together, they crossed the porch.
Inside, Peter had prepared two bedrooms.
Lily’s room had pale yellow walls and a night-light shaped like a moon.
Drew’s room had books, model airplanes, and a bed near the door.
He stood in the center without speaking.
“You can change anything,” Peter said.
“Can Lily sleep here?”
“For tonight?”
“For always.”
Peter knelt.
“You’re allowed to be six.”
Drew looked confused.
“You don’t have to protect her every second.”
“But who will?”
“I will.”
Drew’s eyes filled.
“What if you go to work?”
“I’ll make sure someone safe stays with you.”
“What if they lock the door?”
“No one will.”
“What if—”
Peter placed one hand over his heart.
“Then you call me. And I believe you the first time.”
Drew started crying.
Not quietly.
Not carefully.
For the first time, he cried like a child.
Peter held him.
Lily climbed onto the bed and wrapped her arms around both of them.
That night, Drew refused to remove his hoodie.
Peter realized Lily had used it as a blanket in the basement.
He washed it while Drew slept.
Then placed it beside him before morning.
At sunrise, Peter found Drew awake, checking whether Lily was breathing.
Peter sat beside him.
“She’s safe.”
Drew whispered, “I know.”
May you like
But his eyes said he did not believe safety could last.
👉 The children were free from the basement, but freedom did not immediately teach them how to stop surviving.
