Lucas leaned in, lowering his voice. “Real Mom. She doesn’t like it when you move her things,” he whispered, glancing over his shoulder like he expected someone to be watching us.
I sat frozen, trying to process what he was saying.
The way he looked at me was so serious, like he was sharing a secret he wasn’t supposed to. I forced a smile, nodded, and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “It’s okay, Lucas. You don’t have to worry. Let’s finish up our puzzle, alright?”
But that night, as Ben and I lay in bed, my mind raced. I tried to tell myself it was just a kid’s overactive imagination.
But each time I closed my eyes, l’d hear Lucas’ words, see the way he’d glanced nervously toward the hallway.
When Ben was finally asleep, I got up quietly, heading to the attic. I knew Ben kept some of Irene’s old things in a box up there. Maybe if I could see them and find out more about her, it would help me understand why Lucas was acting this way.
I climbed the creaky stairs, my flashlight slicing through the dark, until I found the box tucked in a corner, dusty but well-kept.
The lid was heavier than I expected, as though it had absorbed years of memories. I pulled it off and found old photos, letters she’d written to Ben, and her wedding ring wrapped carefully in tissue. It was all so personal, and I felt a strange pang of guilt going through it.
But there was something else. A few items looked freshly moved, almost as if they’d been handled recently.
And that’s when I noticed it: a small door in the corner, half hidden behind a stack of boxes.
I froze, squinting at the door. I’d been in the attic a few times but had never noticed it. Slowly, I pushed the boxes aside and twisted the old, tarnished knob. It clicked, opening into a narrow room dimly lit by a small window.
And there, sitting on a twin bed covered in blankets, was a woman I recognized immediately from the photos. She looked up, her eyes wide.
I stepped back, startled, and stammered, “You… you’re Emily, Ben’s sister, aren’t you?”
Emily’s expression shifted from surprise to something else a quiet, eerie calm. “I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed to find out this way.”
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. “Why didn’t Ben tell me? Why are you up here?”
She looked down, smoothing the edge of her blanket.
“Ben didn’t want you to know. He thought you’d leave if you found out… if you saw me like this. l’ve… l’ve been here for three years now.”
“Three years?” | could barely process it. “You’ve been hiding up here all this time?”
Emily nodded slowly, her gaze distant. “I don’t…. go outside much. I prefer it up here. But sometimes, I get restless. And Lucas… I talk to him sometimes. He’s such a sweet boy.”
A chill ran through me. “Emily, what are you telling him?
He thinks his mother’s still here. He told me that she doesn’t like it when I move things.”
Emily’s face softened, but there was a trace of something unsettling in her eyes. “I tell him stories sometimes. About his mother. He misses her. I think it comforts him to know she’s still… present.”
“But he thinks you’re her. Lucas thinks you’re his real mom,” I said, my voice breaking.
She looked away. “Maybe it’s better that way. Maybe it helps him to feel she’s still here.”
I felt my head spinning as l backed out of the room, closing the door behind me. This was beyond anything I could have imagined. I went straight downstairs, finding Ben in the living room, his face immediately full of concern when he saw me.
“Ben,” I whispered, barely holding it together. “Why didn’t you tell me about Emily?”
He went pale, his eyes darting away. “Brenda, I-”
“Do you realize what she’s been doing? Lucas thinks… he thinks she’s his real mom!”
Ben’s face fell, and he sank onto the couch, his head in his hands. “I didn’t know it had gotten that bad. I thought… I thought keeping her here, out of sight, would be best. I couldn’t leave her alone. She’s my sister. And after Irene passed, Emily wasn’t the same. She refused to get any help.”
I sat beside him, gripping his hand. “But she’s confusing Lucas, Ben. He’s just a child. He doesn’t understand.” Ben sighed, nodding slowly. “You’re right. This isn’t fair to Lucas-or to you. We can’t keep pretending like everything’s fine.”
After a few moments, I whispered, “I think we should set up a camera, just to see if she’s really been leaving her room. To know for sure.”
Ben hesitated, but eventually, he agreed. We set up a small, hidden camera outside Emily’s door that night.
The next evening, after Lucas had gone to bed, we sat in our room, watching the footage. For hours, nothing happened.
Then, just past midnight, we saw her door creak open.
Emily stepped into the hallway, her hair loose around her face, and stood there, looking at Lucas’ bedroom door.
Then Lucas appeared, rubbing his eyes, and walked toward her. Even on the grainy screen, I could see his little hand reaching for her. She knelt down, whispering something to him, her hand on his shoulder. I couldn’t hear the words, but I saw Lucas nod and say something back, looking up at her with that same, earnest expression.
I felt a wave of anger and sadness I couldn’t quite control. “She’s been… she’s been feeding his imagination, Ben. This isn’t healthy.”
Ben watched the screen, his face drawn and tired. “I know. This has gone too far. We can’t let her do this to him anymore.”
The next morning, Ben sat down with Lucas, explaining everything in simple terms. He told him that his Aunt Emily was sick, that sometimes her illness made her act in ways that confused people, and that his real mom wasn’t coming back.
Lucas was quiet, looking down at his little hands, and I could tell he was struggling to understand. “But she told me she’s my mom. You can’t send her away, Dad,” he murmured, his eyes filling with tears.
Ben hugged him tightly, his voice thick with emotion. “I know, buddy. But that was her way of trying to help you feel close to your mom. She loves you, just like we do.
And we’re going to help her get better.”
Later that day, Ben arranged for Emily to see a doctor.
The process was painful; she protested, even cried, but Ben stayed firm, explaining that she needed help. Once she was admitted to the hospital, the house felt quieter, almost lighter.
Lucas struggled at first. He’d ask about Emily, sometimes wondering if she was coming back. But gradually, he began to understand that what he’d believed wasn’t real, and he started to make peace with the truth.
Through it all, Ben and I grew closer, supporting each other as we helped Lucas cope.
It wasn’t the journey I expected when I married him, but somehow, we’d come out stronger on the other side, bound together not just by love, but by everything we’d faced as a family.
Tess Ogar
