Fuck. The word echoed inside Samuel's head, sharp and relentless. He stared at the screen of his phone, thumb hovering before pressing replay once more. The video began again. The same few seconds. He watched the video of the boy found frozen in a lake.
Someone had sent the video to him.
Fuck!
Fuck!
Fuck!
He watched it over and over, as though repetition might change what he was seeing, as though staring long enough might bend reality into something more tolerable. The video was posted on the news in Novaterra.
Fuck.
His fingers tightened around the phone, knuckles whitening. A pulse throbbed painfully in his temples. This wasn't supposed to happen. The boy wasn't supposed to be found. He was supposed to be dead. The child was dead. His body fell into the lake. He wasn't supposed to be found. How? How? How?
He bit his fingers watching the video over and over again.
The video cut off.
Samuel blinked just as his phone vibrated in his hand.
Incoming call.
Noah.
