The Car Was There

I rang. The button lit. I heard

something shift inside the hall.

I stood there. Waited. One full minute.

Nothing at all.

The storm door held my face in it—

pale, slightly wrong.

The car was in the driveway.

I'd been right all along.

I went back to my car. I sat

with the engine off.

The house behind me in the rearview.

The drive. The car. Enough.

I drove. I didn't look back.

I knew the button was still glowing—

amber in the doorframe,

aimed at nobody showing.