Chapter 14 - THE FIRST KENNEL
The nearest bag contained Mrs. Harris’s wool coat, slippers, and camera.
Its screen showed footage from forty years earlier.
A ten-year-old boy sat bruised and barefoot inside the same kennel.
The boy had my face.
Young Evelyn stood outside and said, “Your new father is coming.”
I had been trained in this house before becoming Michael Carter.
The second bag moved.
We cut it open and found the real Jason Brooks, older and scarred.
He pointed toward the balcony.
“That man isn’t me.”
The man upstairs removed a mask.
My adoptive father, Arthur Carter, stood beneath it.
Evelyn had designed replacement children.
Arthur had designed replacement parents, abusers, neighbors, and rescuers.
Then the kennel locked again.
Inside sat a little girl with Emily’s face.
Arthur’s voice came through the speakers.
May you like
“One daughter leaves.”
Read Chapter 15 to discover why the house demanded Michael choose between two Emilys.
