I shoved back from the desk so hard that the chair hit the wall.
For several seconds, I could not move.
Then a memory surfaced.
A story Alma had told me before we were married.
She said she has an identical twin sister called Ava.
They had cut contact after graduating from college.
Alma never liked discussing her.
She once said, "Ava did not want to live her own life. She was constantly obsessed with mine."
At first, I had thought she meant ordinary sibling jealousy.
Then Alma told me Ava had tried to date two of her former boyfriends.
She copied her clothes and her style of fashion and beauty.
She spread lies to separate her from her friends so that they could befriend her.
Once, she showed up at Alma's dorm pretending to be her and read private messages on her computer.
Their parents had spent years excusing it.
"Ava is sensitive."
"Ava only wants to be close to you."
"Ava is simply doing what normal twins do all the time."
The final break came after Ava kissed Alma's boyfriend at a party and told everyone he had confused them.
After that, they barely interacted.
They had not spoken in almost 20 years.
Ever since Alma and I got married, I have never had a word about her.
I knew right then that whoever was sleeping next to me since she came back from the retreat was not my wife.
My wife was the one stuck in a basement. What kind of evil scheme had her twin sister come up with?
I grabbed my phone and called the police. This was not something I could deal with alone.
After all, my wife was being held against her will in a basement.
The dispatcher kept telling me to slow down.
"My wife is on a live camera," I said. "Someone took her and is impersonating her. The woman in my house is her twin sister, pretending to be my wife."
Two officers arrived within 15 minutes.
Detective Brooks came shortly after.
I showed them the live feed, the photographs, and told them about the birthmark.
They confirmed that the video was indeed a live feed.
Detective Brooks leaned closer to the screen.
"Do you recognize the room?"
"No."
"Do you know where Ava lives?"
"No. I didn't even know she was alive."
They checked the laptop's network data while another officer searched public records.
