The Corner Office
Seven Years of Silence

The Search

August 25, 2026 · Part 4 of 10 · 2 min

Callum ran back to his truck with the phone still pressed to his ear, Naomi's breathing ragged on the other end.

"I'm ten minutes from Riverside," he said. "Stay by the landline in case the school calls it."

"Cal, they're saying twelve confirmed injured. They haven't said how many kids—"

"She's fine. She's fine, Naomi. Kids get held back at the gate, they get put on buses, there's a hundred boring reasons a bus is late."

He didn't believe a single word of it and she knew it too.

Riverside Elementary's gymnasium had become a triage point for anyone under twelve, parents flooding the doors faster than the two overwhelmed staff members could check names against a clipboard list. Callum shoved through them, scanning for a small girl in overalls with a backpack covered in enamel pins.

"Junie Reece," he said to the first adult in a lanyard he found. "Eight years old, third grade—"

"Reece — Reece—" The woman ran a finger down a soaked, smudged printout. "She's here. Gym, corner by the stage."

He found her wrapped in a foil emergency blanket, knees pulled to her chest, staring at nothing. When she saw him she didn't run to him the way she usually did. She just watched him cross the room, like she wasn't sure yet that he was real.

"Hey, bug." He dropped to his knees in front of her. "I got you. I got you."

She let him pull her in, small and shaking, smelling of smoke.

"The platform made a noise," she whispered into his shoulder. "Like when you crunch a can. And then Ms. Doran said run, and everybody ran, but—"

"But what, baby?"

Junie pulled back just enough to look at him, her face streaked and pale.

"Tamsin didn't run," she said. "Tamsin was still up by the platform stairs taking a picture for the class project. I don't — Dad, I don't know where Tamsin is."

Continue the story Part 5: The Forged Signature →

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