window adorned with sheer white curtains. As the light balances itself on the camera, we see the baby she spoke of, a beautiful pure white bird who tweets delicately to her as she babbles to it. The video ends just under a minute later.
Seeing her move and talk, just as she did in my walk that night sends chills through my body. All I can think about is how I left her. I walked away. I went against my gut feeling—which was to track her down and help her get home—and just came home to keep myself safe.
I wince as every thought running through my mind cuts me like a knife.
“That’s what she was wearing the night I saw her. And her bird. It was there too.”
“Are you absolutely positive this is the same girl?”
“There’s not a doubt in my mind.”
“You never fell asleep watching the news and maybe saw her face?”
“She wasn’t on the news when I had that walk.”
Zoë rests her hand on top of mine. “Emma, if you would have followed her, your face would be on the news right now too.”
We sit in silence for a moment just staring at the computer screen before I blurt out, “We have to help her.”
“What? How can we possibly help her? She’s lost. It could take literally forever to find her!”
“I found her once, I can find her again. She’s a little kid. The terrors that the dark walker is giving her… I was petrified. I can’t imagine what she feels. We have to help her. We don’t have a choice.”
“Emma, you’re getting a little carried away. Stop and think about this rationally. How can we possibly do that? How would we ever find her? How did you even find her the first time?”
I look at her, dumbfounded. “I have no idea, but I know I’m connected to this girl somehow. There’s no other explanation. We can start by asking my dad for help.”
His car pulls into the driveway and the second I catch sight of it, I run for the stairs, Zoë following close behind me. We meet him at the front door and I flood him with information as we follow him down the center hallway of our house, toward the kitchen.
I quickly remind him of everything I told him on the phone before adding in all my recent discoveries. Zoë watches me run through the details like I am having a psychotic episode. My dad tries to slow me down but I can’t stop the words from erupting out of me. I start with the castle and give him every detail possible; details I hadn’t remembered myself until this very moment. I tell him about the cave I was briefly trapped in last night and every detail of the unrecognizable city that I can remember, including the little girl on the street who was able to see me.
I finally screech to a halt when my mind shows me the image of the child I saw the previous night. “It was Natalie. She was there last night too. How am I connected to this little girl? How can she possibly be finding her way into my walks?” I ask, mostly to myself, not expecting anyone to have an answer to the question.
I finally leave him a moment to speak. “Alright, Emma. Calm down. Let’s talk about this realistically. If I tell you it’s okay for you to try to find this girl, how will you do it?”
“I don’t think I’ll have to try very hard. She manages to find me. She’s done it more than once already.”
“How will you get her back? You know nothing about her. How will you be able to connect her back with reality?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t worked out all the details yet.”
“That’s a pretty major aspect of trying to help someone return to reality, Emma. You have to know what you’re doing before you put yourself in harm’s way.”
“I’ll figure it out, dad. I’ve been so close so many times. I just didn't know it.”
“Why are you so convinced that you have a connection to this girl?”
“I don’t know what it is yet, but it’s there. I can’t explain it. I just feel very strongly connected to her.”
He doesn’t respond right away. He just looks at me like there are things he wants to say but doesn’t know how to tell me.
“Emma, how can I possibly tell you that it’s okay for you to do this? You’re just a kid yourself.