The teacher’s face changed.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize.”
I should have thanked her and taken Lily home.
Instead, I remained frozen.
“What made you think she had a twin?”
Ms. Thompson glanced toward the hallway.
“There’s another girl who looks almost exactly like Lily. They’re in separate groups for reading and mathematics, so I haven’t had them together much today. I assumed they were sisters.”
My fingers went cold.
“No,” I whispered. “That isn’t possible.”
“The other group is finishing its last lesson now,” she said carefully. “Perhaps you should see for yourself.”
The Girl in the Other Classroom
I followed Ms. Thompson down the hallway.
Every step felt unreal.
I told myself there were many children with blonde curls and blue eyes. The teacher was new. She had simply made a mistake.
Still, something inside me was trembling.
We reached another classroom.
Ms. Thompson opened the door and looked around.
Then she pointed.
“There she is.”
A little girl stood beside a bookshelf, placing colored pencils into a plastic box.
My breath stopped.
She had Lily’s hair.
Lily’s eyes.
Lily’s dimple.
But that was not why my knees nearly gave way.
When the girl noticed us staring, she lowered her head and began rubbing her thumb across the knuckle of her index finger.
Ava’s nervous habit.
The habit I had watched hundreds of times.
I grabbed the doorframe to keep myself upright.
The girl looked at me.
For several seconds, neither of us moved.
Then she tilted her head in the exact way Ava used to whenever she was trying to understand something.
“Do I know you?” she asked.
Her voice was older, but beneath it I heard the little girl who once called for me in the middle of the night.
I could not speak.
Ms. Thompson touched my arm.
“Are you all right?”
Before I could answer, Lily appeared behind us.
“Mom, I’m ready!”
Then she saw the girl.
Lily’s backpack slipped from her shoulder and fell to the floor.
The two children stared at each other.
The classroom became completely silent.
The other girl took one small step forward.
Lily raised her wrist, showing the silver bracelet with its two stars.
The girl’s eyes widened.
“I’ve seen that before,” she whispered.
“Where?” I asked.
“In my dreams.”
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