Shelly’s POV
I wake up abruptly, my heart pounding in my chest, a sense of unease flooding over me like a tidal wave. There's a chilling tingling in my bones, an instinctual feeling that something is amiss, though I can't quite put my finger on it.
My eyes darted to the alarm clock on my nightstand; it's six in the morning. Anxiety grips me; the boys always wake me before now, clamoring for their early morning feeding around three o'clock, but today.
There was no such call. Carter's usual cries, which can usually pierce through the heaviest of sleeps, were eerily absent.
Anxious and disoriented, with thoughts swirling chaotically in my mind, I leap out of bed. My entire being feels charged with adrenaline, every nerve alert and primed.
I sprint across the hallway toward the boys' nu
