The Twin’s Vengeance

Just after dropping my son off at kindergarten, I got a call from his teacher. "Sir, why hasn't your son arrived at school yet? Is he feeling unwell?"

I explained in confusion, "I just dropped him off with you. Did you forget?"

The teacher immediately responded, "Sir, please don't joke. I haven't seen you at all today."

I was dumbfounded and rushed back to the kindergarten, only to find that my son was indeed missing. I demanded to see the security footage, but it showed that I hadn't brought my son to school at all that day. Even the kindergarten's security guards and other parents testified that they hadn't seen me at the school. Still, I distinctly remember taking my son to kindergarten and handing him to his teacher.

Desperate to find him, I called the police. Eventually, they found my son's body in a pond near our home. The surrounding surveillance footage showed me pressing him into the water, drowning him with my own hands.

My mother-in-law clutched his lifeless body, sobbing and accusing me. "What did my grandson ever do wrong? Why did you have to kill him?"

My wife, filled with rage, slapped me across the face and shouted, "How could you do this to your own child? He was only five years old! Are you even human?"

I had no way to defend myself and became a reviled father, a murderer, overnight. My parents suffered severe online harassment and eventually died in their own homes. As for me, I was thrown in prison, tortured and ultimately beaten to death.

Even in my last moments, I couldn't understand why everyone who had seen my son and I insisted we hadn't been at the kindergarten. Moreover, if I had never gone near that pond, then why did the surveillance footage show me drowning my own son?

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day I took my son to school.

——

"Honey, my mom isn't feeling well. I'm taking her to the hospital today. Can you drop our son off at kindergarten?" My wife, Ruby, supported Alice, speaking to me gently.

Those familiar words sent a chill down my spine. I turned to look at Ruby, realizing that I had been reborn. In my past life, I had agreed to take my son to school alone that day and that was when everything started to spiral out of control. In the end, my son drowned under mysterious circumstances.

I was framed as a murderer and tortured to death. I wasn't responding, so Ruby approached me worriedly, "What's wrong, Honey? Are you too busy?" Her tone was soft as if she were afraid of troubling me.

When I looked at her gentle expression, my heart sank. In my past life, I had been buried in work. My wife and mother-in-law had always been the ones to take our son to and from school. So why did something so terrible happen on the day they asked me to take him? Was it really just a coincidence?

After a moment of hesitation, I looked at Ruby and thoughtfully said, "I think our son looks a little unwell today. Maybe he should stay home instead?"

Ruby glanced at our son, then nodded. "Alright, we'll do as you say."

"Just remember to call the teacher and let her know," I added.

Alice smiled and said, "Then I'll leave little Ronan in your care today."

Their reactions seemed perfectly natural, so normal that I couldn't see any flaw. Still, the more normal it seemed, the more uneasy I felt. After Ruby and Alice left, I looked at my son. He was quietly sitting at the table, eating his breakfast obediently. My eyes welled up. I couldn't shake the memory of his lifeless body, drowning in that pond in my past life.