Chapter 2 — A Child Who Remembered Everything
Ethan possessed an unusual gift.
He remembered details with frightening accuracy.
His teachers called it photographic memory.
His mother called it curiosity.
Nathan called it overthinking.
But Ethan never forgot numbers.
Dates.
Clothing.
Conversations.
Especially inconsistencies.
Every Friday Vanessa posted another pregnancy update online.
Week 10.
Week 11.
Week 12.
Hundreds of comments congratulated her.
She uploaded smiling photographs while holding her stomach.
Ethan accidentally walked past the living room television one afternoon.
The family slideshow displayed pictures taken over the previous month.
He stopped walking.
Picture one.
Vanessa in a red dress.
Picture two.
Blue sweater.
Picture three.
White blouse.
Different outfits.
Different days.
Same stomach.
Exactly the same shape.
Exactly the same size.
Not smaller.
Not larger.
Exactly identical.
Ethan frowned.
He grabbed a ruler from his backpack.
Nobody noticed him measuring the television screen.
He wrote numbers inside his notebook.
Three photographs.
Three identical measurements.
Impossible.
Unless...
He scratched the thought away before finishing it.
Children weren't supposed to accuse adults.
Especially adults everyone loved.
Still...
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He couldn't ignore mathematics.
Mathematics never lied.
