Parallel Predicaments

10

As I stood knocking on Mrs. Stephen's door, Sheldon was beside me, holding a basket of fruit. He had picked me up half an hour earlier, and we had driven together to the professor's house.

Just then, my phone rang. It was a call from future Nami, her voice urgent. "Nami, something's wrong with Mrs. Stephen, you need to get out of there..." Her voice cut off abruptly as my phone died.

Sheldon noticed my alarmed expression. "What's wrong? You look upset."

I relayed to him, "It was me from the future. She said something about Mrs. Stephen..."

As I spoke, the door opened, revealing Mrs. Stephen's kindly face. She ushered us in from the cold with a warm smile. This was only my second visit to the professor's home; the previous time had been a brief stop to drop off some documents when only he was present.

Once inside, Mrs. Stephen invited us to sit at the dining table, laid out with sandwiches. She excused herself to fetch soup from the kitchen.

Recalling future Nami's warning, I felt uneasy. Seizing the moment while Mrs. Stephen was in the kitchen, I rose to inspect the room but found nothing amiss until I noticed a peculiar seam by the balcony wall. Curious, I approached and gently pushed against the wall, revealing a hidden door.

Sheldon whispered urgently, "Nami, what are you doing?"

I signaled for silence and pushed the door open, only to be confronted by a shocking sight that made me cry out and fall to the floor.

Sheldon rushed over, equally startled by the sight before us. How could one describe it? The emaciated figure on the bed, with human-like form but appearing more like a desiccated monkey, was horrifying. Its long hair sprawled across the floor, and its nails were unnervingly sharp. The room was strewn with decaying food.

The creature screeched and lunged at us. I instinctively shielded my face, but when I dared to look again, I noticed it was restrained by a chain around its ankle.

Mrs. Stephen returned nonchalantly, placing more sandwiches by the door for the creature, which devoured them hungrily. "Sorry for the scare. My son can be quite mischievous," she explained as if nothing was amiss.

Her son? This monstrous being was her child?

Sheldon pulled me to safety behind a coffee table and discreetly dialed for emergency help while maintaining a facade of calm. "Mrs. Stephen, I didn't realize you and the professor had a son," he said, feigning ignorance.

Mrs. Stephen sighed, her gaze softening as she looked at her "son." She revealed the tragic story of how her son had been used as an experimental subject by Professor Stephen since he was ten, threatening her into silence under the penalty of their son's life.

The room, once hidden, was filled with experimental equipment similar to what we had in the lab. Mrs. Stephen's demeanor shifted, her smile twisting into something sinister as she recounted seeing someone shoot Stephen. She admitted to confronting him about the experiments, only to be rebuffed. Her rambling turned vindictive, celebrating Stephen's death as deserved.

As we made to leave, Mrs. Stephen blocked our path, brandishing a knife, blaming us for her son's condition. Sheldon intervened, allowing me to escape and call for help.

Just then, the door burst open, and Officer Lee and his team rushed in, subduing Mrs. Stephen. Their timely intervention saved us from a dire situation, bringing an end to a nightmarish ordeal within the walls of what once seemed like a normal home.