Chapter 1 - THAT WASN’T THE VIDEO
Noah Bennett was supposed to be finding cartoons.
Instead, he found a woman.
Daniel sat at one end of the large cream-colored sofa, scrolling through his phone while their nine-year-old son stood near the coffee table with the remote.
Warm afternoon light filled the living room.
Laundry waited in the basket near the dining area.
The television showed the normal home screen.
Noah pressed one button.
The screen went black.
Then a video appeared.
Daniel stopped moving.
On the television—
Daniel himself stood inside this exact living room.
Same sofa.
Same dining table.
Same wall-mounted television.
And in his arms was a woman Claire had never seen before.
Not a polite greeting.
Not a handshake.
Daniel was hugging her.
The woman had both arms around him.
Claire walked into the room carrying the tan laundry basket.
She looked up.
Stopped.
Then dropped the basket slightly.
“What—”
Daniel turned.
“Claire.”
She looked from him—
to the Daniel on television.
Then back.
The basket left her hands.
Claire hurled the entire thing into his chest.
Daniel jerked backward into the sofa.
Shirts, towels, socks and Noah's sweatpants exploded across his body and onto the polished floor.
“Who is she?”
“Wait.”
Claire crossed the room.
Daniel stood halfway.
She slapped him hard across the face.
Noah jumped.
Daniel stared at Claire—
then immediately looked past her.
At the television.
“I don't know why that's playing.”
Claire laughed.
“You don't know why you're hugging her?”
“I didn't say that.”
Wrong answer.
Daniel threw the clothes off himself.
He pushed up from the sofa and reached for Noah's remote.
Claire grabbed him by the collar.
“Don't touch it.”
“Claire, give me the remote.”
She yanked him backward.
Daniel twisted out of her grip.
Then shoved her away from the TV.
Claire stumbled into the coffee table.
Her hip struck the edge.
She caught herself with one hand.
Noah backed away.
“Stop!”
Neither adult seemed to hear him.
Daniel pressed buttons repeatedly.
Power.
Home.
Back.
Input.
Nothing.
The footage continued.
The woman stepped away from Daniel in the recorded video.
She appeared to say something.
There was no audio.
Daniel watched her face.
Claire saw his expression.
Recognition.
Not confusion.
“You know her.”
Daniel stopped pressing buttons.
Claire came back across the room.
She snatched the remote from him.
He reached.
Claire shoved him.
Hard.
Daniel fell backward onto the sofa.
Noah pointed toward the screen.
“She was here yesterday.”
Everything stopped.
Claire turned.
Daniel slowly looked at his son.
“What?”
Noah kept pointing.
“That lady.”
Daniel stood again.
“Here?”
Noah nodded.
“In the house.”
Daniel's face changed.
Claire saw it.
He had known the woman.
But he had not known she came back.
Claire looked down at the scattered laundry.
Then something occurred to her.
She grabbed the basket.
Turned it upside down.
The remaining clothes fell onto the floor.
Something small hit the hardwood.
Click.
A tiny black camera.
Its green light was on.
Claire stared.
Daniel came closer.
She picked it up before he could.
He reached toward it.
Claire knocked his hand away.
“Don't.”
Both of them stared at the device.
Noah whispered:
“I didn't put that there.”
Daniel looked toward the ceiling.
Then the windows.
“Claire…”
The suspicious footage on the television vanished.
No button pressed.
The screen changed.
Live video.
Their living room.
From high in the far corner near the ceiling.
Claire was visible holding the miniature camera.
Daniel stood beside the sofa.
Noah stood near the coffee table.
All three of them looked up toward the physical corner matching the image.
Nothing.
No visible camera.
Daniel slowly backed away from the television.
Then the feed changed again.
A second live angle.
Behind the sofa.
The three Bennetts stood in the center of their own room—
watching themselves.
Behind them on the television image, one dining chair moved.
Slowly.
Backward.
Across the floor.
Claire spun around.
The chair had moved.
Nobody was standing beside it.
Noah grabbed her arm.
Daniel stared at the television.
May you like
Then a woman's calm voice came through its speakers.
“That wasn’t the video I wanted you to see.”
