Tuesday 2 July 2019

The Changeling - Chapter Three



The Changeling

Chapter Three


John stared at the photo. But how could this be? Maybe this little boy just looked like him. But then, why would his parents have kept the clippings, why did they hide the box away for all of these years?

His mind ran through infinite possibilities, each more far fetched than the last. There has to be an simple explanation, there just has to be!

He looked closer at the face gazing back at him from the photo. Then he gasped! Through the graininess of the photo, he had spotted something that proved without a doubt that the boy in the photo was him!

The boy's face was tilted upwards, the eyes and mouth smiling. He looked so happy. And there, just on the jawline, faint but there, was the birthmark!

John idly rubbed his chin, as he stared at the boy, feeling the slight roughness of the mark on his own skin

He put down the picture and began to look at the clippings, reading each in turn.

'Henry Maxwell, aged 3, disappeared from a local park this morning'

'There are still no clues as to the whereabouts of Henry Maxwell, aged 3, who disappeared last week from a local park'

'Local lad, Henry Maxwell, aged 3, thought to have been kidnapped'

'Henry Maxwell, aged 3, now believed dead!'

The clippings spanned around a year before they stopped. Henry had never been found, he had just disappeared, with no clues, no leads, no sightings.

John felt sick! But he couldn't be Henry Maxwell! There were photos of him as a baby, giggling in his parents arms. His earliest memories were here, in this house, with his parents!

He put the box down and stumbled back to the house. 'I'll find the photos of me as a baby, I am NOT Henry Maxwell! I am John Thompson!

He opened the sideboard in the lounge and pulled out the old album and flicked through the pages, his mouth dry and his heart pounding.

He looked: Him smiling up at his parents from his pushchair, him running in the garden, him on the beach. Picture after picture of him! A picture of him aged around 2, cuddling a teddy with a ribbon tied around its neck.

But then he stopped. His hand resting on the page. He looked closely, hardly believing his own eyes. No, this can't be right! The baby in the pictures, there's something missing, something not quite right!

Picture after picture was the same. He flicked through the album. Desperately seeking out the truth.

This child had no birthmark!!!

This child was not him!!

What was happening? The world that he had known began to crash around him. Who was he? Was he John Thompson, or was he Henry Maxwell?

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