Daniel followed Lily through the rain to a small house on the outskirts of town.
The place looked abandoned. The windows were covered in dust, the garden had disappeared beneath weeds, and the front door creaked as Lily pushed it open.
“Mommy is upstairs,” she whispered.
Daniel followed her down a dark hallway.
Every step brought back memories of Emily. He remembered the way she laughed, the way she held his hand, and the last night they had spent together before she vanished.
Then he saw the bedroom.
A woman lay beneath a white blanket.
“Emily?”
Daniel rushed forward, but Lily caught his arm.
“Don’t wake her up too quickly, Daddy.”
He slowly pulled back the blanket.
The bed was empty.
There was no woman, no pillow, and no sign that anyone had slept there.
Only a photograph rested on the mattress.
Daniel picked it up.
It showed Emily standing in the same bedroom, holding a newborn baby.
On the back was a date.
The date was five years earlier—the exact week Emily had disappeared.
Suddenly, a woman’s voice whispered from the darkness.
“Daniel…”
He turned toward the doorway.
Nobody was there.
Then Lily looked up at him.
“Mommy says you’re not supposed to be here yet.”
