“That was what the oven clock read.” Betsy watched her son walk into the kitchen. She frowned, her maternal instincts ready to spring into action if he expressed a desire to venture into the woods at such a late hour. Her concern deepened as she observed this unusual behavior. “It’s alright,” he called softly out the door, his tone strangely calm and reassuring.
Betsy’s mind raced with questions, and she couldn’t help but wonder what her son was responding to and why he was offering reassurance in the quiet of the night. It was a mysterious encounter that left her with an uncanny sense of foreboding, a feeling that something unusual was transpiring just beyond the threshold of their home.