Stolen Life, Stolen Love

driven me here directly from the park, telling the officers I needed a "formal ev

cer Davis, sat across from us at a metal table. S

mth. "Your husband is concerned. Your parents are concerned. This is

d, my voice steady despite

f me-or someone who looked exactly like me-in a hospital bed, holding a newborn

tal the day Leo was born," she said

was wearing my favorite locket, the one Mark gave me for our fifth anniver

said. "It looks lik

to face me and pressed play. It showed the same woman from the photo, me, walking out of th

" I said, my mind grasping for solid ground. "I have the p

. Don't you remember? The doctor put you on bedrest for the last month

so full of fake sympath

ing at Officer Davis. "There are recor

nge. "I'm not seeing any record of you being a speaker at that confere

losing in. They had thought of everything.

be a fabrication? Could my mind have created a successful career to cope with a life I didn't want? The t

d, more to myself than

parents walked in. My mother rushe

he cried, trying to hu

this to me?" I aske

said, his voice heavy with sorrow. "We're trying to

with what?

full of tears. "Chloe, it's the postpartum depression.

other

gnosed a few years ago. After a particularly bad episode. The doctors

zoph

to their entire story. It explained everything. The memory los

r my sanity. They

te denial, but my own conviction was starting to waver unde

. "It's part of the illness. You create a different world for yourself

cern. She was telling me my greatest achievements, the very c

Mark' s feigned worry. They were a united front. The police officer was already co

hey had an answer for everything. They

h. If I was going to survive this, if I was going to find

ht go out of my eyes. I looked at Mark

g my voice sound weak and lost. "Maybe... maybe

rk put his arm around me, pulling me into a hug. "It's ok

n, this time with relief. "Oh

rk, playing the part of the broken woman who had finally acc

since Leo was born, but they never mentioned my sister, Ashley. My identical twin. The "lost" one. She went missing five yea

y were tryin

ad to live in their lie until I could find a