The first time she saw him, it was just a flicker of light.

Elsa Underbridge felt pinned into her chair, staring into the hallway. Had she really seen it? She wanted to get up and check, but she felt all the wind had been knocked out of her.

The upstairs hall had been dark since Eddie left. When he was still home- where he was supposed to be- that hall had been lit up like Christmas all year round. Eddie would climb the stairs two at a time and bound back down, jumping off the last step with a thud just to startle her.

“Land sakes, Eddie, you scared the living daylights out of me,” she’d yell. Eddie would smile and give a wholeheartedly false apology–“Sorry, Ma. You aren’t mad, are you?”–and she’d smile back.

She never could stay mad...

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