Chapter 4

In the dozen days that followed, Landon gradually returned to normal. During the day, he would drop Lucia off at school and keep her company while she drew. At night, he would still check every single piece of black fabric.

Occasionally, when I woke in the middle of the night, I'd find him beside the bed with a knife in his hand. The moment I opened my eyes, he'd turn and leave without a word.

…

On the afternoon of the 15th day, I found Caleb at the address listed in the files. He lived in an old residential complex on the outskirts of the city.

When he heard my name, he gripped the doorframe and refused to let me in. "I'm retired. I don't remember anything about what happened back then."

I held my phone out to him. The screen displayed the file numbers of all 11 cases.

Caleb took one look at it and averted his gaze. "Their conditions were all stress reactions following their missions. There was no other explanation."

"My husband also returned from the far side of the moon."

His hand froze in midair.

I continued, "Today marks the 15th day since his return."

Caleb remained silent for a long while before stepping aside to let me in.

There was no trace of his career in aerospace in the living room. His medals, certificates, and work photos had all been packed into cardboard boxes and stacked in the corner.

I asked him where those 11 wives had actually gone.

"I don't know."

"Were all their husbands at the scene when they disappeared?"

"I don't know."

"Why did every husband have a knife?"

Caleb abruptly raised his head. He stared at me for several seconds, the color slowly draining from his face. "How much have you uncovered?"

"Enough to prove this isn't a coincidence."

Caleb didn't deny it again. He lowered his head and rubbed his knees vigorously with his fingers.

Moments later, he said, "On the night of the 15th day... No matter who calls your name, don't answer right away."

"Why?"

He didn't explain. Instead, he got up and walked into his study.

When he returned, he was holding an old external hard drive. "This contains the home surveillance footage from the first disappearance. It was supposed to be destroyed back then, but I secretly kept a copy."

The surveillance footage showed a bedroom. The date displayed in the bottom right corner was precisely the 15th day after that astronaut's return.

The woman on the bed was already sound asleep. Her husband, however, was clutching a knife, standing beside the bed.

He didn't move. He simply kept his head down, staring at his wife's face. The scene was exactly like what I'd witnessed these past few days, when Landon stood beside my bed.

Right after midnight, a voice suddenly echoed from the hallway. "Mommy."

The woman on the bed opened her eyes and instinctively parted her lips. Her husband lunged at her and clamped his hand over her mouth.

The woman thrashed with all her might. The man raised his knife several times, but he never brought it down.

The voice in the hallway sounded again. "Mommy."

The surveillance footage suddenly dissolved into static. Eleven minutes later, the footage recovered.

The woman was gone from the bed. Her husband knelt alone on the floor, still clutching the knife.

His lips parted and closed, as if he was repeating something. The footage had no audio. All I could see were the tears streaming down his face.

"Where did she go?"

Caleb shook his head. "No one knows."

I pressed him about what the astronaut had said in the end. Yet he unplugged the hard drive and refused to answer any more questions.

Before I left, he grasped my wrist. "Remember, Sylvia. No matter who calls your name, don't answer!"

…

By the time I hurried home, it was already dark. None of the lights were on inside. The clocks in the living room, kitchen, and bedroom had all stopped at 11:59 pm.

"Landon?"

No one answered.

Lucia's bedroom door was locked from the inside. I walked up to the door.

Lucia's innocent voice drifted out from the room. She was telling the story of the moon spirit's journey to the moon. "The moon spirit is so beautiful. Ever since daddy saw her, I haven't been able to forget her."

I twisted the doorknob. "Lucia, open the door!"

The storytelling abruptly stopped.

The very next second, all the power in the house went out. All of a sudden, a hand clamped over my mouth in the darkness.

Before I could fight back, Landon dragged me into the bedroom and locked the door behind us. He was holding a knife. "Don't make a sound."

"Put the knife down first, Landon."

He stared at me for several seconds, and for a brief moment, his gaze sharpened, as if he'd come back to his senses. He slowly lowered his weapon.

"Quick, get out of here!" he rasped out. "Take Lucia and run!"

My fingers had just grazed the doorknob when the storytelling started again in the hallway. "Later, the moon spirit returned from the moon..."

Landon shuddered. When he looked up again, his expression had turned unfamiliar.

He abruptly seized me and forced me back onto the bed. The tip of the knife pressed against my chest, right over my heart.

I called out his name and thrashed wildly. Yet he only pressed down harder. The cold tip of the knife pierced through my pajamas, sinking into my skin.

"Mommy," Lucia called out softly in the hallway.

Beads of cold sweat covered Landon's forehead. "Ignore her, Sylvia! Once you open your mouth… I won't be able to tell who is who anymore," he forced out.

I looked at the knife in his hand, recalling how desperately the astronaut in the surveillance footage had tried to cover his wife's mouth. All of a sudden, the scattered clues fell into place.

I stared at the knife in his hand and laughed uncontrollably. "I get it now!"