Chapter 4 - ETHAN’S FIRST INTERVIEW
The forensic interviewer’s name was Rachel Vaughn.
She wore no white coat.
No badge.
No perfume.
She sat on the floor across from Ethan and let him choose the chair.
David watched behind one-way glass.
The interview lasted forty-three minutes.
Ethan spoke in fragments.
Grandma took him to a building with no sign.
A woman in white cut his hair.
A man called him Micah.
They took his picture.
They made him answer to the new name.
When he refused, they tied one wrist to the bed.
There were other rooms.
He heard children crying.
He saw a girl with dark braids through a door window.
He never saw daylight until the final night.
Rachel asked how he escaped.
Ethan described a woman named Nurse Anne.
She whispered his real name when no one listened.
She loosened one strap.
During a storm, the power flickered.
An alarm sounded.
Anne placed oversized clothes beside him and opened a service door.
“Run toward the trees,” she said.
“Keep going until you see houses.”
Ethan ran.
He followed power lines.
Crossed a creek.
Hid when cars passed.
A delivery driver gave him water but left before Ethan could speak.
At last he recognized the water tower near his neighborhood.
Rachel asked why his grandmother took him.
Ethan lowered his head.
“She said Dad didn’t want me anymore.”
“Did you believe her?”
“At first.”
David pressed one hand against the glass.
Rachel waited.
Ethan continued.
“Then Nurse Anne said dads don’t put up missing posters if they don’t want you.”
That sentence kept the boy moving through darkness.
The interview ended when Ethan asked whether Grandma could still take him.
Rachel answered honestly.
“Police are making sure she cannot reach you.”
Not never.
Not impossible.
Accurate safety.
David entered only after Ethan invited him.
May you like
The child crawled into his arms.
This time, he did not flinch.
