“Daddy… Mommy’s boyfriend hit me with a baseball bat. He said if I cry, it’ll hurt more…”

Thinking.
When everything inside me was screaming that there was no time for that.

In the background of the call, a male voice spoke, harsh and irritated.

—Who are you? What are you doing here?

Kyle.

I recognized that tone immediately, but now there was something else: a nervous tension, as if I weren’t expecting to meet someone.