CHAPTER TWENTY NINE: THE RETURN OF SOMETHING UNEXPECTED
200 Words
Days later…
Something strange happened.
Ava came home from school, unusually quiet.
“Are you okay?” Hailey asked.
Ava nodded.
But didn’t speak.
That night…
Hailey noticed something.
Ava was staring at people.
Watching them.
Too closely.
Just like she used to.
Her heart skipped.
“Adrian…” she whispered.
He followed her gaze.
“Do you see that?” she asked.
He nodded slowly.
Something felt… familiar.
Unsettling.
As if a story they thought had ended…
Was beginning again.
Hailey couldn’t shake the feeling.
Something wasn’t right.
It started small.
Ava becoming quieter.
More distant.
More… watchful.
“Mom,” Ava said one evening, standing at the kitchen doorway.
Hailey turned. “Yes?”
Ava hesitated.
Then asked—
“Do you ever feel like you know what someone is going to say… before they say it?”
Hailey froze.
Her heart dropped instantly.
“Why would you ask that?” she said carefully.
Ava shrugged, but it wasn’t casual.
“I just… feel it sometimes.”
Hailey forced a small smile.
“Maybe you’re just very observant.”
Ava nodded slowly.
But her eyes said something else.
She wasn’t convinced.
And neither was Hailey.
TO BE CONTINUED...
- Writer
