‘There’s nothing to be scared of,’ said his aunt as she drove the rental car.
‘I’m OK,’ said Daniel, unhooking his hands from the edge of the seat and flexing his palms pink again. But when he stared at the road ahead he imagined it falling away, remembering how the sinkhole had opened like a magic trick. ‘I don’t know what’s happened to our car,’ he said when he realized his aunt was still glancing over at him and trying to drive at the same time. ‘Where all our things have gone.’
She nodded and smiled and cooed that she would buy him anything he needed.
Daniel wound down the window to keep himself cool and breathed in the day, all the sounds and the smells and the sunshine, until he was calm and clear-headed.
‘I want to know more,’ he whispered into the world. ‘About the fit and what to do.’
But there was only the wind in his ears.