Chapter 16 - 2:17 A.M. Again
On a quiet December night, Hannah woke at exactly 2:17 a.m.
For a moment, she was back in the old nursery.
She felt Evelyn’s fist in her hair.
She heard Noah screaming.
Then she saw the room around her.
Different walls.
Different crib.
Miles sleeping beside her.
Hannah opened the shared camera app.
Noah lay peacefully beneath a blue blanket, now a healthy two-year-old with curls falling across his forehead.
Miles woke.
“Is he okay?”
“Yes.”
He waited.
“Are you?”
Hannah considered the question.
“I think so.”
They walked to Noah’s room together.
He stirred as Hannah adjusted his blanket.
Miles stood beside her but did not touch her until she reached for his hand.
“I used to hate this time,” she whispered.
“Two seventeen?”
“It felt like the moment my life broke.”
Miles looked at Noah.
“Maybe it was the moment the truth entered.”
Hannah leaned against him.
The camera’s small green light glowed from the shelf.
Once, a hidden lens had captured violence.
Now, an openly shared camera watched over a safe room.
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At 2:18 a.m., Hannah turned it off.
She no longer needed proof that she was safe.
