CHAPTER 8 – The Children Who Had Never Been Born
The lights began flickering violently.
Machines that hadn't worked for decades suddenly came alive.
Heart monitors beeped.
Incubators powered on.
An empty nursery echoed with the sound of children laughing.
Emma clutched her stomach.
The babies kicked harder than ever before.
All four.
At the exact same moment.
Dr. Harrison froze.
"The heartbeat monitor..."
He pointed to the screen.
"There aren't four heartbeats anymore."
Emma's face turned white.
"What?"
The monitor displayed...
Five.
Five perfectly synchronized heartbeats.
Daniel stepped closer.
"There has to be a mistake."
The ultrasound technician rushed in carrying a portable scanner.
"We need to scan her immediately!"
Within seconds the image appeared.
Emma burst into tears.
There were still four babies.
Healthy.
Moving.
But standing behind them...
Inside the womb...
Was the same mysterious child.
Only now...
It was no longer a blurry face.
It looked like a little boy.
About five years old.
Smiling.
Watching them.
Claire collapsed into a chair.
"He grew..."
Dr. Harrison whispered,
"That's impossible."
The little boy slowly lifted one hand.
Then pointed directly at Emma.
Not at her stomach.
At her eyes.
The scanner suddenly emitted a high-pitched alarm.
Every monitor in the room flashed a warning.
UNKNOWN BIOLOGICAL SIGNATURE DETECTED.
Then...
The boy moved his lips.
No sound came from the machine.
Yet everyone in the room heard the words inside their minds.
"I've been waiting for my mother."
Emma screamed.
Daniel shut off the scanner.
The image disappeared.
But the voice remained.
Soft.
Gentle.
Almost loving.
"Don't be afraid, Mom."
Dr. Harrison's phone rang.
It was the hospital genetics laboratory.
He answered.
The scientist on the other end sounded terrified.
"Doctor..."
"What happened?"
"We reran the DNA test."
"And?"
The scientist whispered,
"We searched every database on Earth."
Dr. Harrison held his breath.
"What did you find?"
"There is one genetic match..."
"Who?"
The scientist's voice cracked.
"The DNA belongs to..."
He stopped speaking.
Then quietly finished the sentence.
"...Emma Carter herself."
The room fell into absolute silence.
Emma stared at her unborn children.
Then at the smiling boy who had disappeared from the screen.
She whispered one impossible question.
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"How can I be... my own children's father?"
TO BE CONTINUED…
