My stomach knotted. “What do you mean, he’s not here?”
Noah pointed at the stone. “He’s not here.”
I got up slowly. “Yes, my darling, he’s here,” I said too abruptly.
My hands have become cold.
“No,” he replied. “He told me so.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Ethan.”
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s get some hot chocolate.”
Noah nodded quickly, relieved.
“Who?”
On Monday, he repeated the same thing.
“Ethan is back.”
I paused. “At school?”
“He talked to me,” Noah said. “He said things.”
“What things?” I asked.
“Ethan is back.”
His voice dropped. “It’s a secret.”
My heart was pounding.
“Noah,” I said, “No secrets with Mom.”
“He told me not to tell you,” Noah said.
I tightened my seatbelt. “Listen. If someone tells you to keep a secret from me, you’ll tell me anyway. Okay?”
Noah hesitated, then nodded.
“Someone is speaking to Noah.”
That evening, I sat at the table with my phone. Mark was pacing back and forth in the doorway.
“I’m calling the school,” I said.
Mark approached. “What happened?”
“Someone is talking to Noah,” I said. “And he’s pretending to be Ethan.”
Mark turned pale. “Are you sure?”
“He said Ethan told him not to tell me,” I said.
“I need to view the security camera footage.”
The next morning, I went into the school office.
“I would like to speak to Ms. Alvarez,” I said.
Ms. Alvarez appeared with a smile.
“Ms. Elana,” she said. “Is Noah…”
“I need to view the security camera footage,” I added.
Noah then headed towards the back fence.
His eyebrows rose. “We have a policy… We can’t…”
“There is someone talking to my son,” I said.
She looked at me. “Come with me.”
Her office smelled of coffee. She displayed the video.
At first, everything was normal. Children running around. Teachers pacing back and forth.
Then Noah approached the back fence. He stopped and waved.
Noah laughed and answered him.
“Zoom in,” I asked.
CONTINUE READING…>>
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