Chapter 2 - Calla refused to let go of her mother.She held her so tightly that the woman winced.
Only then did Calla notice how thin she was.
Her mother looked nothing like the person in the few photographs Calla had kept hidden beneath her mattress.
In those photos, she had been bright.
Healthy.
Laughing.
Now her cheeks were hollow.
Her wrists were marked with bruises.
Her hair had been cut unevenly, as though someone had done it with a pair of kitchen scissors.
Daniel finally found his voice.
“Emma?”
Emma looked at him.
Her entire body stiffened.
Daniel took one step toward her.
She immediately moved behind Calla.
That frightened him more than anything.
“Emma...”
“Don't.”
Her voice was barely a whisper.
Drea started crying.
But Calla saw something strange.
Drea's tears began only after everyone else had started staring at her.
“You don't understand,” Drea said.
Daniel turned.
“Then explain.”
“I was protecting her.”
Emma laughed once.
It wasn't a happy sound.
It was broken.
“Protecting me?”
Drea shook her head.
“She told me she'd hurt you.”
“Who?”
Drea looked at the house.
Then toward the trees.
Emma whispered:
“She.”
Calla frowned.
“Who?”
Before Emma could answer, Daniel stepped closer.
“Who did this?”
Emma looked at Drea.
Then at Daniel.
Then at Calla.
“I can't tell you here.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“You've been locked in a room on my property for years.”
Emma flinched.
“Not years.”
Everyone stared.
“What?”
Emma looked at Calla.
“I've only been here for eleven months.”
Daniel went still.
Calla stared at her father.
“But you were gone for six years.”
Emma's eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
“Where were you?”
Emma opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Then a voice called from the patio.
“Daniel?”
A guest named Marcus approached.
“We should call the police.”
“Yes,” Daniel said immediately.
Drea stepped forward.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
Drea swallowed.
“I mean... if Emma is traumatized, police questioning might make things worse.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You don't get to decide that.”
Drea's face tightened.
Then Emma spoke.
“No police.”
Daniel turned.
“Why?”
“Because they won't believe me.”
“They'll believe the evidence.”
Emma looked toward the broken lock.
“There won't be any evidence.”
Daniel frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Emma lowered her voice.
“She erased everything.”
“Who?”
Emma's eyes moved slowly toward Drea.
But before she answered, the house lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then every security camera monitor inside the living room went black.
Marcus looked toward the house.
“Power outage?”
Daniel's phone buzzed.
He checked it.
A security alert had appeared.
CAMERA SYSTEM OFFLINE.
Daniel's expression hardened.
“That's not an outage.”
Emma grabbed Calla's hand.
“She's here.”
“Who?”
Emma looked terrified.
“The woman who helped me disappear.”
The room went silent.
Daniel stared at Drea.
Drea stared at Emma.
Then the front door slammed shut.
Everyone jumped.
A second later, something hit the kitchen window from outside.
A folded piece of paper.
Daniel walked toward it.
Emma suddenly screamed.
“DON'T!”
Daniel stopped.
Emma was shaking.
“That paper is a warning.”
He carefully picked it up anyway.
Three words were written on the front.
YOU FOUND HER.
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Calla's childhood photo.
Taken when she was four.
On the back was a date.
The exact date Emma disappeared.
May you like
And beneath it, a single sentence:
NOW SHE KNOWS YOU REMEMBER.
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