The message led Barry to a location he never expected: his childhood home. The house where he had grown up, where his mother had lived before faking her death, where he had spent his formative years believing he was part of a normal family.
When Barry arrived at the house, he found an elderly man sitting in the living room. The man had weathered features, gray hair, and eyes that held a profound sadness. According to his appearance, he was in his nineties, far too old to be the original Thomas Chen, who would have died in 1983 at sixty-five years old.
"Hello, Barry," the man said. "My name is Thomas Chen. I'm the original. The person who everyone believes has been dead for forty years."
Barry felt the foundations of his reality shifting once again. "That's impossible," he said. "You wou
