“Are you there?” Alone on the hillside, she yelled into the orange-edged night. “They told me you were out there. Then they said you couldn’t be. And I…”

Stars peppered the deepening night, sparking memories: her father, kneeling to play marbles as a storm raged outside.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Julie Duffy is the host of StoryADay May, the annual extreme writing challenge for short story writers.