Escaping Evil Through Time

Chapter 25: There Were Two

The house was quiet.

Too quiet.

Kali stood in the kitchen, her hands resting against the counter, her breathing uneven like she had run from something she couldn’t see.

The baby monitor hummed softly.

One steady rhythm.

But something inside her didn’t match it.

Cole stepped inside, shutting the door behind him.

He noticed it immediately.

“Kali?” he said gently.

She didn’t answer right away.

Just turned slowly.

Her eyes already filled with something deeper than exhaustion.

“I need you to listen to me,” she said.

Cole nodded without hesitation. “Always.”

Kali swallowed, her hand instinctively moving to her stomach again—like her body was trying to remember something her mind hadn’t fully caught yet.

“When I was pregnant…” she started, voice shaking slightly, “did anything ever seem… off to you?”

Cole’s brow furrowed.

“Kali… I wasn’t there,” he said softly. “You know that.”

“I know,” she said quickly. “I know, I just—”

She shook her head, frustrated.

“I don’t know how to explain this,” she whispered. “But something is missing.”

Cole stepped closer.

“What do you mean?”

Kali’s voice dropped.

“Not gone.”

A tear slipped down her cheek.

“Missing.”

Cole’s chest tightened.

Kali looked at him, and this time—

The truth didn’t hesitate.

“There weren’t just one.”

Cole stilled.

“There were two.”

Silence.

Heavy.

Real.

Cole shook his head slightly, trying to process.

“Kali…” he started carefully, “are you saying—”

“I’m not guessing,” she said.

Her voice steadier now.

Stronger.

“I know.”

Cole ran a hand through his hair, pacing once.

“This doesn’t—how would we not know that?”

Kali shook her head.

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “But I felt him.”

Cole stopped.

“Him?”

Kali nodded slowly.

“And now?” Cole asked.

Her voice broke.

“I still do.”

Cole’s expression shifted completely now.

From confusion—

To something deeper.

“Then he’s alive,” Cole said.

Kali looked up at him, tears still falling.

“He’s not gone,” Cole continued. “If you can still feel him, then he’s somewhere.”

Kali’s breath hitched.

“…Where?” she whispered.

Cole didn’t have the answer.

Not yet.

But something in him locked into place.

“Then we find him,” he said.

Final Beat

Kali pressed her hand to her chest again.

Eyes closing.

And somewhere—

Far beyond where she could reach—

Something small shifted.

Like it heard her.