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.
