The Others

Daniel didn't sleep.

At 3:17 in the morning, he sat alone at the dining room table with the blue notebook open in front of him.

The house was still offline.

Rachel and the girls were upstairs.

The printer page sat beside the notebook inside a plastic sleeve Rachel had found in Sophie's school supplies.

Daniel had laughed when she'd brought it to him.

"Evidence bag?"

"Best I could do."

Now it didn't seem funny.

He wrote:

M/731

Underneath:

SOPHIE SAW IT BEFORE THE UPDATE.

Then:

MIA: "YOU ALWAYS DO THIS."

And:

"THEY MAKE YOU STOP."

He stared at the last sentence.

Then added:

"YOU DON'T REMEMBER."

Daniel put down the pen.

He read the four lines.

There was still a version of this where he was losing his mind.

He needed to leave room for that.

He was tired.

Scared.

Suggestible.

Maybe Sophie remembered the tablet wrong.

Maybe Mia was repeating something she'd heard.

Maybe the printer—

Daniel looked toward the hallway.

No.

He couldn't do that one.

He had held the power cord.

Rachel had seen it.

The printer had printed without electricity.

Unless they had both missed something.

Daniel stood.

He needed information.

Real information.

Not another prediction.

Not another message.

Someone else.