PART 4
Two days later, I got a call from the school.
“Emma didn’t show up today,” the secretary said.
I laughed at first.
“She’s been there since 8.”
“No,” she said. “She never arrived.”
My stomach dropped.
I left work immediately and drove home.
Her room was empty.
Bed made.
Backpack gone.
Phone… still on the desk.
That’s when I noticed something I had never seen before.
A second phone.
Hidden under her pillow.
Old model.
Screen cracked.
I turned it on.
No password.
One app open.
Messages.
Just one contact.
No name.
Just a number.
And one message at the top:
“She’s starting to notice. We need to move faster.”
My hands started shaking.
Below it—
A photo.
Taken inside our house.
Of me.
Sleeping.