12/07/2025
I had just come home from work, kicked off my heels, and was pouring a glass of juice when my 5-year-old daughter Lily tugged my sleeve and said: "Mommy, do you want to meet your clone?" I laughed. "My what?" "Your clone. She comes over when you're at work. Daddy says she's here so I won't miss you too much." Something about the way she said it made my skin prickle. My husband Jason had been on parental leave for the last six months. After I got a promotion, we agreed I'd work full-time while he stayed home with Lily. But lately... something felt off. Lily had started saying strange things. When I asked Jason about the "clone," he just said, "Lily's got a wild imagination." Still, I couldn't shake the feeling. Then, one day, I asked Lily when "clone" exactly she was coming. Lily answered. "She comes right before my nap time." Me: "And what does she do with daddy, dear?" Lily: "They go in a bedroom and shut the door. But I peeked once. Daddy was sitting and crying. She hugged him. Then she said something in a different language." I didn't sleep that night. So, I secretly set it up Lily's old nanny camera in our bedroom. When I was supposed to be at work, I turned it on. And here's when my heart froze because there entered a woman. But that face... that face was unmistakably my own. I packed my laptop away quickly and drove home. I had to know the truth. ⬇️
