Danny clung to his daddy and sobbed his heart out. He wanted to say so many things, tell him about everything he'd missed and his new school, warn him about Mrs Massey, all kinds of things. But he was eight and exhausted and he had missed his daddy so much, he'd thought he might break once or twice. The tears were too big and too much to let anything else out for at least a couple of minutes.
When he'd calmed down enough that he could talk, although his breath was still shuddery and a bit gaspy and his eyes were still leaking, he managed one question. "A-are you dead? Be-," and he paused to try and breathe a bit better, "because then I'm dead too and Mom's on her... on her own. And Mrs Massey... She... she found me again..."