Escaping Evil Through Time

Chapter 22: The Space Between

Kali woke before the sun.

No sound.

No reason.

Just—

something pulling her out of sleep.

The house was still.

Too still.

She sat up slowly, her hand instinctively pressing against her chest, her breathing uneven like she had run from something she couldn’t remember.

Nothing looked wrong.

Everything was exactly as it should be.

And yet—

Kali stood, moving quietly through the house.

The baby monitor crackled softly behind her.

She turned toward it.

One steady rhythm.

She stared at it longer than she meant to.

Her chest tightened.

“That’s not right…” she whispered.

The words slipped out before she understood them.

She frowned, stepping closer, staring at the monitor like it might explain itself.

One heartbeat.

One presence.

But something inside her resisted it.

“No…” she said again, softer this time.

Her hand moved again—this time to her stomach.

Not thinking.

Just reacting.

A flicker—

So fast she almost missed it.

A second rhythm.

Gone.

Kali gasped slightly, stepping back.

“What was that?”

Her mind raced, trying to catch something already gone.

But her body knew.

It wasn’t fear.

It wasn’t confusion.

It was recognition.

“There was something else…” she whispered.

Across something she couldn’t see—

Something shifted.

Far away—

Zella stepped through another jump.

And for a split second—

Before time settled—

Something slipped through with her.

Back in the house—

Kali froze.

Her breath caught.

Not pain.

Not loss.

Connection.

Her hand pressed harder against her chest now.

“I felt that…” she whispered.

And this time—

She didn’t question it.

Final Beat

Kali closed her eyes.

Trying to hold onto it.

But it was already fading.

Leaving behind only one thing—

The undeniable truth—

Something had been there.

And now—

It wasn’t.