Chapter 6: The Man Who Was Never Gone
The picture on my phone stayed open for nearly a minute.
I couldn’t blink.
I couldn’t breathe.
Because standing outside Lily’s school was a man who had supposedly vanished years ago.
Thomas Reed.
The same man whose name appeared on the forged divorce papers.
The same man Emily believed had saved her life after the crash.
The same man who now appeared to be watching my daughter.
“Daniel.””
Emily’s voice was low.
Not scared.
Controlled.
That somehow frightened me more.
I handed her the phone.
She stared at the image.
Her fingers tightened around the device.
“He found me.””
I looked at her.
“What?””
She didn’t answer immediately.
She zoomed in on the picture.
The man in the distance was wearing a dark jacket and a baseball cap. His face was partially hidden, but there was no mistaking him.
Emily had seen him before.
Not just after the crash.
Before.
“He was there that night,” she whispered.
“Thomas?””
She nodded.
“I remember his voice.””
A cold feeling moved through my chest.
“You said you lost your memory.””
“I did.””
She looked at me.
“But some things stayed.””
The police had taken Rebecca into custody, but we hadn’t heard anything about Thomas. The investigators believed he had disappeared after learning Rebecca was caught.
Apparently, they were wrong.
I immediately called Detective Harris, the officer handling Rebecca’s case.
He answered on the third ring.
“Daniel?””
“Thomas Reed is alive.””
Silence.
“What did you say?””
I sent him the picture.
A few seconds passed.
Then his voice changed.
“Where did you get this?””
“Someone sent it to me.””
“Who?””
“I don’t know.””
Detective Harris exhaled.
“Daniel, listen carefully. Do not approach him. Do not contact him.””
“Why?””
“Because we believe Thomas Reed wasn’t just involved in Emily’s crash.””
I looked at Emily.
“What else?””
The detective lowered his voice.
“He may have been involved in several incidents connected to Rebecca’s family.””
My stomach dropped.
“What incidents?””
“Financial crimes. Blackmail. Disappearances.””
Emily closed her eyes.
She already knew.
That night, nobody slept.
Lily was unaware of what was happening.
She was sitting on the living room floor drawing pictures of our family.
A stick figure of me.
A stick figure of Emily.
And a smaller figure in a wheelchair holding both their hands.
I watched her carefully.
After everything she had been through, she still wanted to believe in happy endings.
“Daddy?””
I looked down.
“Yes, sweetheart?””
She held up the drawing.
“Can Mommy stay forever now?””
The question nearly broke me.
I knelt beside her.
“Yes.””
Emily sat beside us.
“We’re not leaving you again.””
Lily smiled.
A real smile.
The first one I had seen in years.
But later that night, after Lily fell asleep, Emily and I sat in the kitchen.
The house was quiet.
Too quiet.
“I need to tell you something,” she said.
I looked at her.
“What?””
“The crash wasn’t the first time Rebecca scared me.””
My heart tightened.
“Emily…”
“I didn’t tell you because I thought I was imagining things.””
She looked down.
“Before the crash, strange things started happening.””
“What things?””
“My phone disappeared.””
I frowned.
“Your phone?””
“Yes.””
“Why didn’t you tell me?””
“Because it came back the next morning.””
She paused.
“Then I found messages deleted.””
A chill ran through me.
“What messages?””
“Messages between me and you.””
I stared at her.
“Someone was trying to make me look unstable.””
She continued.
“I thought maybe stress was affecting me. Maybe I was overthinking.””
“But you weren’t.””
“No.””
She looked toward the hallway where Lily slept.
“I wasn’t.””
Suddenly, the lights went out.
The entire house went dark.
Emily stood immediately.
“Daniel.””
“I know.””
I grabbed my phone flashlight.
Then we heard it.
A sound from upstairs.
A door closing.
My heart raced.
“Lily.””
We ran.
Her bedroom door was open.
The bed was empty.
For one terrifying second, I couldn’t move.
Then I saw her.
She was standing near the window.
Awake.
Confused.
“Daddy?””
I rushed to her.
“Lily!””
She looked up at me.
“There was a man.””
My blood turned cold.
“What man?””
She pointed outside.
“The man from Mommy’s picture.””
Emily moved to the window.
But the yard was empty.
No footsteps.
No movement.
Nothing.
Then Lily said something that made both of us freeze.
“He said he knew Mommy before she disappeared.””
Emily grabbed my hand.
“What else did he say?””
Lily looked frightened.
“He said…”
She swallowed.
“He said Mommy forgot the most important part.””
A second later, my phone buzzed.
Another message.
This time, there was no picture.
Only a sentence.
*Ask Emily what happened before the crash.*
Emily stared at the screen.
May you like
Then slowly whispered:
“I remember now.””
