Elian sat in the kitchen with the dogs flanking him, their heads resting on his thighs, absently stroking their ears. It was four in the morning and Clara had messaged an hour before she was on her way home. Anjali didn’t usually come in until five or six depending on the morning, so she wasn’t there yet. Sometimes she waited with him, and he was uneasy this morning, so he missed her company.
He wanted to believe each time Clara left the house on a mission it would get easier for him to wait for the news she was safe but so far, it hadn’t. He did all the things Clara told him to do, distractions, meditations, even workout routines she had given him but while they kept him occupied, they never took the edge off his fear.
He heard the grinding of the underground garage door opening and he
