Chapter 2 - The Broken Reality
I stared at the glowing screen of the phone in complete disbelief.
The little girl in the photograph had the exact same curly brown hair as Emma.
She also had the exact same bright green eyes staring back at the camera.
She even had the same tiny dimple on her left cheek when she smiled.
“This has to be some kind of sick joke,” I muttered under my breath.
I pulled Emma closer to my leg to protect her from the madness unfolding in the room.
The strange woman lowered her phone, her hands trembling violently.
“My name is Chloe, and I have been married to Daniel for six years,” she stated clearly.
My brain struggled to process the impossible words she was speaking.
“I have been married to him for seven years,” I fired back defensively.
Daniel backed away toward the bedroom window, rubbing his injured shoulder.
He looked exactly like a cornered animal desperately searching for an escape route.
“Sarah, Chloe, please just let me explain everything to both of you,” Daniel pleaded softly.
“Explain how you have another wife and a child who looks exactly like mine?” I screamed at him.
Chloe stepped forward, her eyes locked intensely onto Emma’s face.
“They do not just look alike, Sarah,” Chloe whispered in absolute horror.
“My daughter, Lily, has a small birthmark shaped like a crescent moon on her right shoulder.”
I gasped loudly as all the air suddenly left my lungs.
Emma had that exact same birthmark in the exact same place on her body.
A terrifying, suppressed memory from the hospital suddenly rushed back into my mind.
I remembered the chaotic night I was giving birth to Emma five years ago.
I had been heavily sedated due to sudden, unexplained medical complications.
The attending doctor had told me I was completely unconscious for nearly an hour after the delivery.
“Daniel, what did you do in that delivery room?” I demanded with tears in my eyes.
I took a highly threatening step toward the man I thought I knew and loved.
Daniel looked at the open bedroom door and then quickly back at us.
Instead of answering my question, he suddenly lunged right past us.
He shoved me hard into Chloe, knocking us both violently onto the floor.
He sprinted out of the bedroom and into the dark hallway before we could recover.
Before I could even stand up, he slammed the heavy bedroom door shut behind him.
I heard the distinct, metallic click of the deadbolt locking from the outside.
We were completely trapped inside the master bedroom with no way out.
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Then, the most terrifying sound imaginable echoed from the bottom of the stairs.
It was Emma, screaming in pure terror for her daddy to put her down.
