Chapter 6 - The TapeWe found an old cassette player in the apartment.
The machine groaned when Daniel pressed play.
Static.
Then voices.
A child's crying.
My heart began pounding.
I recognized the voice immediately.
Mine.
Young.
Terrified.
“Lily, get up.”
The recording continued.
A second child cried.
Then my father's voice.
“Rachel, step away.”
I grabbed the table.
My legs nearly gave out.
The recording was real.
I heard a crash.
Then my mother screaming.
“No! No, no, no!”
The tape stopped.
Daniel looked at me.
“There's more.”
He flipped the cassette.
Side B.
Play.
This time, my father's voice came first.
“She can't remember.”
My mother's voice:
“She can't know.”
Then another voice.
Vanessa.
“She did it.”
My father answered.
“She is a child.”
Vanessa:
“She pushed Lily.”
Mother:
“We all saw it.”
Then silence.
Then my father's voice.
“We'll tell everyone she fell.”
I covered my mouth.
My entire body shook.
Daniel reached for me.
I pulled away.
“No.”
The room suddenly felt too small.
My mother stared at the floor.
“You lied to me.”
“We protected you.”
“You erased my sister.”
“She was already dead.”
“And you blamed an accident.”
“You were five.”
“You let me grow up believing I only had one sister.”
Mom looked at me.
“No.”
She spoke slowly.
“You always had two.”
“Then why did Vanessa become Lily?”
My mother flinched.
“What are you talking about?”
I remembered all the times Vanessa insisted Emma sit in “Lily's chair.”
The same name.
The same chair.
The same obsession with boundaries.
“Why does Vanessa keep saying Lily?”
Mom went silent.
Daniel looked at me.
“Rachel…”
But I was staring at my mother.
“Is Vanessa pretending to be Lily?”
Mom whispered:
“She never accepted Lily was gone.”
A noise came from the hallway.
We all froze.
Someone was outside.
Mom looked toward the door.
“Who followed you?”
“I thought it was you.”
“No.”
The handle slowly turned.
Daniel moved in front of me.
The door opened.
Vanessa stood there.
She wasn't crying.
She wasn't angry.
She was smiling.
“You found the tape.”
My mother whispered, “Vanessa…”
Vanessa ignored her.
She looked at me.
“Now you remember.”
I stepped backward.
“Remember what?”
Her smile disappeared.
“That Lily didn't die that night.”
The room went silent.
My mother stood.
“Don't.”
Vanessa looked at her.
“You said she'd never find out.”
“What are you talking about?”
Vanessa laughed.
“Ask Mom where Lily went.”
My eyes moved between them.
“What?”
Vanessa pulled out her phone.
She showed me an old photograph.
Lily.
Alive.
Older.
Standing beside a teenage Vanessa.
The timestamp was three years after the supposed accident.
I stared.
“That isn't possible.”
Vanessa whispered:
“It was possible.”
May you like
Then she leaned closer.
“And Emma was never the first child you had to protect.”
