My stepdad's fantasy
Thirty minutes after the red light
Douro Valley villa, before sunrise
No one said it not out loud.
But neither of us turned the monitor off.
Tomás set it down slowly, like if he moved too fast it might… react. Like it was something alive instead of just plastic and wires. The red light blinked againslow, steady and then stayed there.
Watching.
I didn’t move from the bassinet. My hand stayed on Sofia’s blanket, barely even touching it, but enough to feel something real. Something that wasn’t… whatever this was.