“It’s Grace,” I said. “She’s at her old school.”
Neil didn’t tell me I was imagining things. No. Instead, he went pale as though he had seen a ghost.
He picked up the phone and hung up as quickly as he could.
“It’s a scam. AI voice cloning. People can clone voices now. Anything. Don’t go there,” he said, and I could hear tension in his voice.
“But whoever it was knew her name,” I said. “The person on the phone sounded like her, Neil.”
“Obituaries are public domain. Social media is a thing. Anyone can get that information,” he said dismissively.
I grabbed my keys from the hook in the hallway, but he stood on my way.
“Babe, you can’t go,” he said in a state of panic. “Please.”
“Please what, Neil?” I said while my hands were shaking uncontrollably. “If she’s dead, why are you afraid of a ghost unless she isn’t a ghost?”
After that, he didn’t say anything to me. He didn’t say anything at all. He just looked at me with a desperate expression on the face before I pushed past him and ran to the car.
I don’t really recall the ride to the school, it’s still all blur. I don’t recall any traffic lights, stop signs, or anything else despite the heavy pounding of my heart.
My hands were locked onto the steering wheel, cramping from the grip. I arrived at the school, ran inside, and went directly to the principal’s office.
“She’s in the principal’s office,” the receptionist whispered to me.
I ran to Frank’s office, barging in without knocking.
And there she was. She had grown, of course. She stood about thirteen, a little taller and a little thinner, but unmistakably my Grace.
“Mom?” she whispered.
I knelt before her. “My Grace,” I sobbed, holding her close. She felt warm, solid, real. She clung to me as if I were going to disappear. “Why did you never come for me?”
“I thought you were gone,” I said through crying.
Grace stepped back a little. But then Neil stepped out from behind us, silent and tense.
“Dad?” Grace said slowly.
He gazed at her as if he wasn’t ready to believe in ghosts.
“You knew she was alive,” I said, feeling the urge to shake some sense into him.
“No,” he said weakly.
“Then why did you try to stop me from coming?”
“We should talk in private.”
“No.” I stood up, taking Grace’s hand. “We’re leaving.”
“You can’t just take her,” Neil said.
“Watch me.” I didn’t pay attention to what everyone else was thinking as they gazed at us in shock; I didn’t care.
We stepped outside and got into the car. At that point, I didn’t trust Neil and I wanted to just get somewhere away from him. So I took Grace to her aunt Melissa’s. I needed time to figure things out and collect myself from the shock.
Melissa, too, couldn’t believe her eyes.
“It’s really you!” she said while looking at Grace with the strangest look.
I said to Melissa, “I don’t know everything yet, but I think Neil’s been lying to me.”
“Please keep her here,” I pleaded. “He doesn’t know your address.”
“Please, please, please don’t let them take me again,” Grace cried.
“No one’s taking you,” I said.
