Chapter 20 - A Shadow in the Distance
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A year passed.
Life had settled into a beautiful, peaceful rhythm. I was thriving at work, Leo was dominating his middle school debate tournaments, and Julian was nothing more than a bad memory. He had moved to a small, rundown apartment in a different state, paying his meager child support and occasionally sending awkward, unanswered holiday cards.
It was a brisk autumn evening. I was sitting on the back patio, wrapped in a warm blanket, sipping a glass of red wine while Leo finished his homework inside.
My phone buzzed on the patio table.
I glanced at the screen, expecting a text from Claudia or a work email.
Instead, it was a message from an unknown number.
I picked up the phone, my brow furrowing in confusion. I opened the message.
It was a photograph.
My blood instantly ran ice-cold in my veins.
It was a picture of me, taken from across the street, looking through the large bay windows of my living room. I was sitting on the couch, reading a book. The photo had been taken exactly ten minutes ago.
Beneath the photograph was a single, cryptic line of text.
He wasn't the only one keeping secrets, Claire. See you soon.
I dropped the phone onto the glass table, my heart hammering a frantic, terrifying rhythm against my ribs. I stood up quickly, staring out into the dark, empty street beyond my backyard fence, searching the shadows for any sign of movement.
The wind howled through the trees, making the branches scrape against the house like skeletal fingers.
May you like
The nightmare with Julian was over, but as I stared into the impenetrable darkness, I realized with absolute, horrifying certainty that a brand new game had just begun.
And this time, I had no idea who was playing.
