Lara never expected her ordinary workday to shatter so suddenly. A whispered phone call from her six-year-old son Ben – “Mommy, I’m afraid” – sent her racing home in panic. What she found would test every ounce of her strength as a mother.
Ruby, their trusted babysitter, lay unconscious on the living room floor. Little Ben had done everything right – placing a cold compress on her forehead, calling for help, even remembering Lara’s safety lessons. But the trauma in his wide eyes told the deeper story. This wasn’t just about Ruby collapsing; it was about ghosts from their past.
Two years earlier, Ben had found his father lifeless in bed. Now history threatened to repeat itself before his innocent eyes. As Lara comforted her trembling son that night, she realized something profound – in that terrifying moment, her child had been braver than most adults. His quick thinking had saved Ruby, but the emotional cost was written in the way he clutched his stuffed dinosaur long after bedtime.
