Chapter 7 - THE BOY WHO COULDN'T FORGET Three nights later, Leo woke screaming.
Jackson rushed into his room.
"Bat!"
Jackson switched on the lamp.
"No bat. You're safe."
Leo was crying.
Then he looked at the emergency device on the nightstand.
"It didn't work."
Jackson sat beside him.
"It works now."
"No."
Leo's little voice broke.
"It didn't work."
Jackson closed his eyes.
There was nothing he could say that would make that night disappear.
Leo had done exactly what his father taught him.
Press the button.
Call for help.
And nobody came.
Jackson took his son's hand.
"You did nothing wrong."
Leo stared at him.
"Why didn't Daddy come?"
The question cut deeper than anything Chad could have said.
Jackson answered honestly.
"Because somebody stopped me from knowing you needed me."
Leo was quiet.
Then:
"Uncle Chad?"
Jackson hesitated.
"I don't know yet."
That was the hardest truth.
Because Jackson wanted to tell his son that he knew.
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But he wouldn't lie to him.
Not anymore.
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