Chapter Five
Charlie
In short order, I was back at the house getting Mom settled at the kitchen table and then going to knock on my niece’s door. “Em?” I called.
Silence greeted me. I knocked again, calling her name once more. Nothing. I opened the door to find her on her bed, staring at her computer with her headphones on. She hadn’t even noticed that I’d opened the door. I took a deep breath, letting it out in a slow sigh. For a moment, I just looked at her. She looked so much like my sister it was startling sometimes.
With her glossy dark hair and her wide gray eyes, she was lovely. Unlike my late sister and myself, Emily kept her hair cut short. It stood up in spiky tufts. Her bright purple glasses sat low on her nose. With her knees tucked up, she looked so young. She had a buzzy
