relief--- the heaviness that had clutched at his chest the moment his mom announced she had to leave was lifted as his mama took her place. it wasn't that he didn't love her, she just failed to make him feel safe; the very thing he desperately needed after having witnessed the changs' murder. the scene was seared into his memory: the creaky, dingy ice cream truck, the five terrifying clowns that stood in the dark and stared at him, the way they slit mr. chang's throat... he knew what he had seen. it was like the comics he was so fond of, like that video winter had wanted him to watch, but it was scarier and more real because they had seen him. head full of golden curls, he pressed up against his mom's shirt. “are they going to hurt us, too?” what if his nanny was wrong?