Chapter 2: The Babysitter’s Secret
That night, after Celeste went to bed, I found Mara waiting in the kitchen.
“You saw more than the cup,” I said quietly.
She hesitated… then nodded.
“I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure,” she whispered. “But yesterday… I saw Mrs. Celeste in Noah’s room.”
My chest tightened.
“Doing what?”
“She thought I had left,” Mara said. “She was holding that cup… and pouring something into it.”
The room went ice cold.
“What kind of something?”
Mara swallowed. “A small glass vial. Black… moving inside.”
I didn’t react outwardly.
Inside, something snapped into place.
This wasn’t random.
This was planned.
Carefully.
Patiently.
“Why didn’t you stop her?” I asked.
Mara’s eyes filled with fear. “Because… she was smiling while she did it.”
Not a normal smile.
Not human.
Predatory.
I placed a reassuring hand on Mara’s shoulder.
“You did the right thing.”
But in my mind, one thought repeated:
May you like
Celeste wasn’t just hurting my son.
She was feeding something to him.
