Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 162369 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 812(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162369 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 812(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
What the fuck.
What. The. Fuck.
My entire body is shaking like a leaf when I shove one of the USB drives into my old, dusty laptop. The file manager shows a list of video icons, and I click on the first one. A video starts, showing Penny at about two years old. She’s sitting by a window in what appears to be a child’s bedroom. She’s sobbing and clutching a plush fox toy.
Laura’s voice comes through the speakers.
“Penny, tell Mommy what’s wrong.”
“I want to go home now.”
“This is your home. With me and Daddy.”
“You’re not my mommy and daddy. And you can’t keep me here.”
“We are your mommy and daddy. We love you very much. This is your room.”
Penny glares at the camera and hugs the toy tighter to her chest. “It’s not. This is a baby room. I have a house with a beautiful red couch. And a lake with flowers. I hate this house. It’s cookie cutter. I’d never live here.”
I can’t help but laugh, despite the shock thrumming through my veins. She can’t be more than two…how can she be talking like that? And with so much emotion.
I click to another video where Penny appears a little bit older. This time, she’s sitting at their kitchen table.
“Penny, why do you keep sneaking out of the house?” Laura’s voice asks.
“I’m not sneaking out. I just open the front door and leave.”
“But why? Where are you trying to go?”
“I told you. To my real house.”
“And where is that?”
Penny frowns in frustration. “I don’t know. I just know it’s not far. That’s why I chose you to be my next mommy. Because you live by my house.”
“I’m your only mommy, Penny.”
Penny slams her little hand onto the table. “Stop calling me that! That’s not my name.”
“What do you think your name is?”
“It’s Brianna.”
“Your name is not Brianna. Your name is Penny Rose. You have to stop making up stories, and you have to stop running out of the house at night. You could get hurt, or lost.”
“I’m not making it up!” Penny screams, kicking her feet. “My name is Brianna!”
My heart pounds against my rib cage.
This can’t be real. This can’t be real.
My hand shakes as I click another video and wait for it to play. This one shows Penny drawing at a small desk in her room.
“Who are you drawing today, Penny?” Laura asks.
Penny doesn’t look up from her drawing. “My family.”
“Can you tell me their names?”
Smiling, Penny points to the figures on the paper. “This is my husband, and this is me, and this is Baby Lily, and this is Cherry Pop.”
“I see. And where are these people?”
“They’re at home waiting for me to come back.”
“What will they do until then?”
Penny is very matter of fact. “He’ll make art. That’s what he does. And Cherry will sit on the porch with her ball, because she likes me to throw it.”
“What will you do when you go back there?”
“Love them, of course. And I’m going to be an artist and photographer.”
“That sounds wonderful. And why do you keep taking things out of the garbage?”
“Because he needs them for his work. I especially like the can openers. They’re special.”
“Can you tell Mommy how old you are, Penny?”
“I’m four for now, but I was twenty-one.”
“And what happened to you when you were twenty-one?”
Penny sucks her bottom lip between her teeth. A tear puddles in her eye and slips down her cheek. “I don’t want to talk about that. It’s a bad thing.” Her voice is solemn, riddled with sadness, as she touches her temple.
I slam the laptop lid shut and begin to pace the room.
My head is spinning so bad I feel like I might throw up. Everything I just saw is crazy. Unbelievable. Bizarre as fuck.
But I can’t deny any of it. It’s all there, on paper and caught on video. A real little kid drawing my life. Talking about my wife. Knowing things she couldn’t possibly know.
I shudder when I realize that I think I’ve always known deep in my gut. I felt it. I felt Brianna’s presence in Penny, but I dismissed it. Buried it. Denied it. Because I could never let myself consider—or even say—the only explanation that’s been staring me in the face for years.
Reincarnation.
It sounds insane. A cheesy plot point.
But what other answer is there to explain Penny’s behavior? When she started the drawings and talking about her life, she was too young to make up stories. Let alone know how to manipulate people. Her vocabulary in the videos is way beyond what her age should be.
I dig out the old pack of cigarettes that’s been in my toolbox for years and light one up. I can’t calm my mind down. It’s racing with memories of Penny and all our talks. How I felt an instant connection to her when she was only six fucking years old. The strange buzzing that zips through me whenever I’m near her—what the hell is that?