“Well, hello, Sarah,” William said. “Our son is here… he has come to visit you!”
I knew there was no use in suppressing my emotions. So I let them pour out of my eyes. I fell to my knees and bitterly sobbed as I gingerly brushed my hands on the overgrown tombstone.
William walked away to his car, leaving me alone at the grave. An hour passed, and I still sat beside my mother’s tomb, talking to her about all things good and bad that had happened in my life in her absence.
“Goodbye, Mom,” I rose to leave. “I’m sorry again. Dad just told me about you. I’m still shocked… I’ll visit often. I promise.”
***
A loud honk of a car behind my SUV jolted me to the moment. The traffic had cleared, and Michelle leaned forward from the backseat to see if everything was alright.
“Sir, we’re getting late. I think we should keep going,” she said.
“Oh, yes! Yes, Michelle,” I replied. “I’m sorry. I was just, uhm… thinking about something. We’re almost there.”
“If you really turn out to be my mother, then that means only one thing: For 12 years, I’ve been visiting the grave of a woman I don’t even know,” I thought as I hit the gas pedal and sped to the hospital.
Two minutes later, I pulled over at the hospital parking lot and hurried inside with Michelle. I rushed to a staff nurse at the reception as Michelle hastily followed me.
“Excuse me, nurse… We’d like to take a DNA maternity test immediately,” I said. “I want the results as soon as possible. I’m ready to pay any additional amount. It’s urgent. I want the results today.”
A couple of hours passed as Michelle and I anxiously sat in the waiting hall, awaiting the test results. “So, what is the last thing you remember from your past, Michelle?” I asked, breaking the silence.
Michelle pursed her lips. “I remember opening my eyes in the woods. A woodcutter said he found me floating in the river,” she recounted. “…and then a hospital… when doctors told me I had amnesia. And now, this new life!”
My mind started haunting me. There were no fragments of her past that Michelle could recall or make peace with. At that moment, the nurse approached us and handed over a file.
“Maternity rate…99.99%!” I exclaimed as I read. “That means… you are my MOTHER!”
It felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck her. Michelle trembled as I threw myself into her arms and cried. “You are my mom, Michelle!” I said. “But why did Dad lie to me that you died in an accident at that moment?” I pondered. “I have an idea. Come with me…” I told her as we left the hospital.
***
An hour later, Michelle and I were looking out her car’s window from across William’s mansion. “Are you ready?” I asked her.
“Yes!” she replied.
“Do you remember everything I told you? You know what you’re supposed to tell him, right?” I asked.
“Yes, I remember everything. Don’t worry!” Michelle replied with a confident grin and stepped out of the car. She was nervous yet mustered the courage as she walked up to the front door of William’s mansion and knocked.
As she did, I hid in the bushes. The door creaked open moments later. “Good evening!” Michelle greeted William, who froze in his tracks after seeing her.
“Jennifer??” he gasped.
“Jennifer? No, uh, I’m Michelle,” Michelle replied with a chuckle. “I’m from Mayflower Cosmetics… I just wanted to offer your wife a gift set worth $150.”
“What? Are you kidding me? But how is this possible?” William retorted, composing his anxiety almost immediately.
Michelle smiled. “Oh, I guess you’ve confused me with someone else,” she replied confidently. “Maybe we could’ve met before… or seen each other in the life I don’t remember! The thing is, I have amnesia. I don’t remember anything that happened to me over 20 years ago.”
“Amnesia?” William stuttered after a long, nervous pause. “Oh, maybe you’re right! I likely confused you with someone.” Michelle nodded as William looked at her from top to toe. “Never mind! You just reminded me of an old friend… Uh, I’m William, by the way.”
William extended his hand, and Michelle’s gut had already started to churn with fear. “Michelle… as I said!” She shook hands with William, and at that moment, he noticed the oval-shaped scar on her left arm. He remembered his dead wife bearing a similar scar on the same spot.
“No… this can’t be real,” William was terrified as he looked Michelle in the eye.
“Look, Michelle, I didn’t mean to offend you or something,” William said. “Sorry about my behavior. I didn’t want to sound insensitive, you know! My wife is not home now. Maybe you have something for men?”
“Oh, yeah, I do!” Michelle replied.
“Great! Hey, can you join me for a cup of coffee? I could also see what you’ve got,” William said, smiling as he invited Michelle over.
“Well, why not?!” She exclaimed and followed him inside. Once they were out of sight, I called a cab and got in.
I asked the driver to wait while Michelle faced my father alone. She later told me what happened:
“I was wondering… Michelle, how long have you been in this city?” William asked as Michelle took off her overcoat and put it on the hanger.
“Two weeks!” She replied. “I still don’t know much about this place… Oh, can I please use the restroom to wash my hands? I can’t touch the cosmetics with greasy hands, and my hands are a bit sweaty….”
“Yeah, sure! The bathroom is right there… behind you. Only two weeks?” William said, his gaze fixated on Michelle’s every move. “Well, welcome to our city! I’m sure you and your family love being around here!”
Michelle turned around and smiled. “Oh, thanks! I don’t have a family as such. I live in a small rented house south of Main Street.… one at the end of the lane. To be honest, house rents here are insane… landlords aren’t considerate about single women with amnesia!” she joked as she lathered her hands with soap.
William then led her to the kitchen, which was eerily dark and quiet. Michelle was unsettled. The glinting knives in the rack heightened her fear. But she decided to keep calm, just like I had told her.
“Hey, it’s so dark in here,” she turned to William. “Do you mind if I just turn on the light?”
“Of course not!” William replied. “The switch is inside the…”
But before he could finish, he saw Michelle opening the kitchen cabinet by the door and flicking the light switch. He could not believe his eyes when he watched her do that.
“Michelle?” William said. “I must say… you have such great intuition. None of our guests were able to locate the switch until we told them it was in the cabinet by the door!”
Michelle stopped in her tracks. A strange, unsettling feeling fluttered in the pit of her stomach as she grabbed her bag and stepped back. “Oh, I’m sorry about that. I don’t know how it happened. I… uh… this place kind of looks familiar to me. I don’t understand how. Guess it’s another crazy day! I think I should probably go now.”
“Hey, wait a minute… Get back here….” William ran after Michelle. But by the time he made it out of his house, he saw her boarding an old, cheap car.
“Gosh, that was close!” Michelle told me through the phone as she settled in her car. “Caleb, it seems to have worked! I thought I opened the wrong cabinet at first… but thank goodness I found the switch!”
“That’s great! Everything is fine,” I said. “And don’t worry. I’m just behind you. And yes… he is following.”
Around 20 minutes later, my taxi pulled over several yards away from Michelle’s house. I saw Michelle stepping down from her car and walking inside. Moments later, I noticed my dad’s car stop outside Michelle’s gate. After a momentous pause, the car turned around and sped away.
“Mom, do as I say,” I called Michelle from the cab. “I’ll come back in half an hour, okay? Lock all the doors. And don’t forget what I just told you… Tonight’s gonna be a game changer… and the truth will unravel itself!”
***
It was three o’clock in the morning. I was sitting in my car and quietly waiting across the road from Michelle’s house. The night was calm. The piercing shrill of crickets shattered the silence as I looked around.
Suddenly, bright headlights illuminated the stillness of the street, and I saw my dad’s car pull up in front of Michelle’s gate. I
