My Daughter Came Home From a School Trip and Refused to Tell Me What Happened

way she looked at me.

She didn’t smile.

She didn’t run into my arms.

She didn’t tell me about the trip.

She simply walked past me.

“Lily?”

She stopped.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Her voice was flat.

“You don’t look fine.”

“I’m just tired.”

She went upstairs.

A few seconds later, I heard her bedroom door close.

Then the lock clicked.

I stood in the hallway.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

The Phone Notifications

Over the next several days, Lily barely spoke.

She stopped telling me about school.

She stopped eating dinner with me.

She stopped leaving her room unless she absolutely had to.

And whenever her phone made a notification sound, she flinched.

Sometimes she immediately grabbed it.

Other times she turned it face down.

I began noticing another strange habit.

She kept looking through the window.

Not casually.

She was watching the street.