"Last Door" Excerpt

Brendan waited in the back seat while his stepmother went into the store. A few minutes later, Holly returned. She put her drink in the cup holder and peeled back the wrapper from a Caramello candy bar. Over the back seat, a young child’s voice spoke out.
“I like Cawamello, too.”
Holly froze with bewilderment. She looked in the rear view mirror, back at Brendan. He had his index finger hooked half way in his mouth. She turned around to face him.
“What did you say?” she asked.
In a little child’s voice, Brendan repeated, “I like Cawamello too.” He blinked his wide-open eyes.
Holly paused, dumbfounded, and bit the inside of her bottom lip. Then, she boldly acted on her hunch.
“What is your name?”
The reply was innocent and direct, “Tommy.”
Holly suddenly felt sucked in to a vortex of confusion. She struggled to grasp at reality, but, instead, she was enveloped in a nebulous mass of the illogical.