Chapter 5 - The TwinSarah stopped breathing.
A twin.
The word felt unreal.
Like something from a nightmare.
“My mother had one baby,” Sarah whispered.
“No,” her mother replied.
“You had two.”
Sarah stared at the photograph.
The girl looked like her.
Not similar.
Identical.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
Same tiny scar near the eyebrow.
Sarah touched her own face.
“Where is she?”
Richard answered from across the room.
“Closer than you think.”
Sarah spun around.
He stood beside the projector.
Her mother stepped between them.
“Richard, don't.”
He looked at her.
“After twenty-three years, I think she deserves the truth.”
Sarah shook her head.
“You lied to me.”
Her father emerged from behind the stairs.
Sarah stared at him.
He looked exhausted.
Older than he had appeared on the monitor.
There was blood on his shirt.
“Dad?”
He walked toward her.
Richard blocked him.
“Stay there.”
Sarah looked between them.
“What is happening?”
Her father’s eyes filled with shame.
“I tried to protect you.”
“By lying?”
“Yes.”
Richard laughed quietly.
“Tell her the rest.”
Her father shook his head.
Richard continued.
“Her mother didn't die in a car accident.”
Sarah's eyes widened.
“Then what happened?”
Her father lowered his head.
“She was taken.”
“By you?”
“No.”
“By whom?”
He looked toward Richard.
Sarah understood.
“You.”
Richard did not deny it.
“I needed leverage.”
Sarah's mother stepped forward.
“You took my daughter.”
Richard nodded.
“One of them.”
Sarah stared.
“What happened to Emily?”
Richard's face hardened.
“She survived.”
“Where?”
No answer.
“Where is my sister?”
Richard looked directly at Sarah.
Then the lights went out.
Darkness.
A gunshot echoed through the basement.
Sarah screamed.
Something heavy hit the floor.
The emergency lights came on.
Her father was lying on the ground.
Richard was gone.
Sarah dropped beside her father.
“Dad!”
He opened his eyes.
His lips moved.
She leaned closer.
“Emily…”
“Where is she?”
He raised one shaking hand.
Pointing toward a locked cabinet.
Sarah opened it.
Inside was a small black phone.
It rang immediately.
Sarah answered.
No one spoke.
Then a woman's voice whispered:
“Sarah.”
She froze.
The voice continued.
“I've been waiting twenty-three years to meet you.”
Sarah's heart pounded.
“Emily?”
The woman laughed softly.
“No.”
A pause.
“I'm the reason Emily is dead.”
The call ended.
Sarah stared at the phone.
Then a message appeared on the screen.
CHECK THE WALL BEHIND YOUR MOTHER.
Sarah turned.
Her mother stood frozen.
May you like
Behind her was a hidden door.
And from the other side came three slow knocks.
