CHAPTER 5 – The Four Names Nobody Had Ever Spoken
Emma's hand trembled as she held the phone to her ear.
The child's whisper came again.
"Mommy..."
The voice sounded no older than six.
Soft.
Lonely.
Yet strangely familiar.
Daniel quickly grabbed another phone and activated the speaker recorder.
"Who are you?" Emma whispered.
Silence.
Then...
"We've been waiting for you."
Emma looked around.
The mansion was completely dark.
Not a single light remained.
Only the moon illuminated the driveway where Richard stood unnaturally still.
Claire suddenly grabbed Emma's arm.
"We have to leave. Right now!"
"Why?"
"Because once they find you... they'll never let the children be born."
Emma froze.
"What children?"
Claire looked at Emma's stomach.
"The four babies."
Richard laughed.
A cold...
Empty laugh.
"You should have kept your mouth shut, Claire."
Suddenly...
The phone spoke again.
Not one voice this time.
Four.
Four children.
Speaking together.
Each voice perfectly synchronized.
"Emma Carter..."
Daniel's blood ran cold.
They had never announced the pregnancy publicly.
No one knew Emma's full medical records.
Yet the voices continued.
"Evelyn..."
Emma gasped.
That was the girl's name she had secretly written in her journal two weeks ago.
She had told no one.
Not even Daniel.
The voices continued.
"Lucas..."
Daniel's eyes widened.
That had been the boy's name he dreamed about three nights earlier.
He had never spoken it aloud.
Then...
"Grace."
"And Noah."
Emma dropped the phone.
Those were the exact four names they had privately chosen.
Nobody...
Absolutely nobody...
Could possibly know them.
The screen suddenly lit up by itself.
One message appeared.
WE ALREADY KNOW THEM.
Another.
THEY REMEMBER US.
Then the screen filled with hundreds of ultrasound images.
Every image showed the same smiling face.
Different years.
Different mothers.
Different hospitals.
Exactly every twenty-five years.
Emma whispered,
"This has happened before..."
Claire slowly nodded.
"For over a century."
Richard finally stepped forward.
"You still don't understand."
He reached into his coat and removed an old leather journal.
Its pages were brittle with age.
"This belongs to your great-grandfather."
Emma opened it.
Inside were handwritten notes dating back to 1901.
Each generation described the same impossible pregnancy.
The same mysterious face.
The same four unborn children.
On the final page...
One sentence was circled in red ink.
Only one mother will survive the fifth cycle.
Emma instinctively wrapped both arms around her stomach.
Daniel whispered,
"No..."
But before anyone could speak again...
Every ultrasound photo on the phone changed.
May you like
The smiling face...
Opened its eyes.
