Chapter 10 - THE OTHER CHILDGabriel couldn't move.
Two children.
Claire.
A hospital room.
A secret.
He turned the photograph over again.
Nothing else.
Hannah stared.
“Where did that come from?”
“I don't know.”
Gabriel looked at his mother.
She looked away.
“Mom.”
Silence.
“Tell me.”
She finally spoke.
“Claire gave birth to twins.”
Gabriel's heart stopped.
“Twins?”
“One was Eli.”
“And the other?”
“Taken.”
Gabriel's voice cracked.
“Taken by whom?”
“Your father.”
Gabriel clenched his fists.
“Why didn't Claire tell me?”
“She tried.”
He remembered.
The strange arguments.
The nights Claire wanted to leave the house.
The locked phone.
The times she had looked frightened when Gabriel entered the room.
He had thought she was hiding an affair.
But she had been protecting a child.
“Where is the other baby?”
His mother shook her head.
“I don't know.”
A phone rang.
Hannah's.
She answered.
Her expression changed.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then her face went pale.
She dropped the phone.
“It's him.”
“Who?”
She whispered:
“Julian.”
The speaker turned on.
Julian's voice filled the room.
“The second child survived.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“Where?”
“You're standing in his room.”
Gabriel stared.
“This is the laboratory.”
“No.”
Julian laughed.
“Look at the wall.”
Gabriel turned.
A hidden panel slid open.
Behind it was a nursery.
A tiny bed.
Old toys.
A faded photograph.
Dates.
Medical charts.
The child had lived there.
For years.
Gabriel looked at one document.
SUBJECT ZERO: MALE.
Age:
9.
Gabriel felt sick.
Nine years old.
The same age as Eli.
“Where is he?”
Julian replied:
“Closer than Eli realizes.”
Gabriel looked at the photographs.
The boy had dark hair.
Same eyes.
Same jawline.
He looked like Eli.
Not similar.
Identical.
Eli stared.
“Dad…”
Gabriel couldn't answer.
Then someone behind them whispered:
“Eli.”
Everyone turned.
A boy stood in the doorway.
Nine years old.
Barefoot.
Thin.
Wearing hospital clothes.
He stared at Eli.
Eli stared back.
The two boys didn't move.
Then the other child said:
“I've been waiting for you.”
Gabriel felt the entire world tilt.
“You're…”
The boy looked at him.
“Your son.”
Gabriel froze.
“My name is Noah.”
Eli whispered:
“No.”
Noah smiled.
“Mom said you'd be scared.”
Gabriel took a step forward.
“Where is your mother?”
Noah pointed upstairs.
“She told me to stay here until Dad came.”
Gabriel went cold.
“Which Dad?”
Noah pointed at him.
Then behind Gabriel.
Julian stood in the doorway.
Blood on his shirt.
Gun in hand.
He smiled.
“Mine.”
Gabriel pulled Eli close.
Julian looked at both children.
“For nine years, everyone thought there was only one.”
His eyes moved to Noah.
“But now the experiment has two.”
Then the lights went out.
In the darkness, someone grabbed Eli.
Gabriel screamed.
When the emergency lights came back on…
Eli was gone.
Noah was gone.
May you like
And only one message remained on the floor.
CHOOSE WHICH SON LIVES.
Related Stories
