Page 78 of Our Last Echoes

NOVAK: Where is that coming from, anyway? Is it even singing? I can’t quite make it out.

Carreau hums, as if to match something he hears. The microphone picks up no such music.

SOPHIA [2]: Oh! I like the singing. I heared it before. But then I got lost.

Novak has gone very still.

NOVAK: Sophie? Sweetie?

She limps over to the left-hand Sophia and takes her by the shoulders.

NOVAK: When did you get lost, Sophie?

SOPHIA [2]: I know I’m not supposed to.

NOVAK: Not supposed to what?

SOPHIA [2]: Not supposed to go out when it’s misty. But I wanted to see the beach. And then whoosh!

She waves her hands in front of her eyes.

SOPHIA [2]: Can’t see anything! Aaahh! Sploosh, fall in the water. And then I’m cold.

SOPHIA: But then there’s a shadow. It’s standing up, not on the ground. I not seen a shadow stand up before. So cool.

The adults gape as the two girls trade off seamlessly.

SOPHIA [2]: So I touch it! And then I sleep. And I wake up a differenter place.

SOPHIA: And I look and I look and I look for you but I not find you.

NOVAK: You— The day you got lost. But you came back. Mikhail brought you back.

SOPHIA [2]: Mikhail! The big man. I like him.

SOPHIA: He carry me back.

SOPHIA [2]: Mor-arty come too.

NOVAK: Which one of you... Who came back? Did you? Did Mikhail carry you?

She looks at the left-hand Sophia, who looks confused.

SOPHIA [2]: Why you sad, Mama?

KAPOOR: Their clothes.

Novak understands. The girls are wearing matching sneakers, mud-stained, and jeans close enough not to be easily distinguished. Their jackets, too, are identical, but Novak carefully unzips each one and looks at the shirts beneath. One girl wears a black T-shirt with a cartoon dog printed on the chest; the other’s shirt is gray and striped, long-sleeved. One of those sleeves is still slightly rucked up where Novak moved it to examine her bruises.

KAPOOR: Which one was she wearing today?

Novak’s eyes flicker over the girls. She wets her lips.

NOVAK: I—I’m not sure.

HARDCASTLE: Wait. Let’s be clear here. You’re saying that Sophie was copied—swapped—days ago? Back when she went missing?

NOVAK: We don’t know that. You heard them. It’s like they’re sharing memories.

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