Kate had just set breakfast on the table when the doorbell rang. Josh was outside walking their daughter Emily around the garden, so she answered. A delivery man stood on the porch holding a medium-sized box.
“Package for you,” he said, handing her the clipboard to sign.
She assumed it was something Josh had ordered—he loved surprising her with little gifts, especially since their wedding anniversary was only days away. She carried the box to the kitchen, cut through the thick tape, and peeled it open.
Inside lay a beautifully embroidered pillow, soft cream fabric stitched with intricate designs. It was the kind of thing that would fit perfectly in their living room.
Beneath it was a note that read, Happy Anniversary, Josh and Kate!
– Taylor. Kate froze. Taylor was Josh’s father, the man who had walked out of his life decades ago and left a trail of resentment behind.
Just then, Josh walked in with Emily balanced on his shoulders.
“What’s this?” he asked, setting his daughter in her high chair. Kate hesitated.
“It’s… a gift,” she said carefully. “From your father.”
Taylor had tried to resurface once or twice, like before their wedding, when he reached out through relatives.
Josh had refused.
“I don’t want him there,” he had said. “He’ll ruin everything. Knowing him, someone will show up to the ceremony because he owes them money.” When Emily was born, Taylor tried again, hoping to play the role of doting grandfather.
Josh shut it down immediately.
“I don’t want him near her. Don’t fight me on this one, Kate.
He’s bad news.”
So when Josh picked up the pillow and pressed it to his ear, Kate thought he was just suspicious out of habit. But his eyes widened in alarm.
“Kate… we can’t keep this.” He rushed to the back door and flung the pillow into the garden.
“It’s ticking!”
Kate blinked. “What do you mean ticking?” They hurried outside. There, lying innocently among the flowers, the pillow emitted a faint, rhythmic sound.
She crouched and pressed her ear against it.
Josh hadn’t imagined it—there really was a ticking inside. “Record everything,” Josh said, jaw tight.
He ripped open the pillow, and from within slipped out a small box fitted with a timer. Kate’s heart pounded.
“What is that?”
Josh didn’t answer.
The story doesn’t end here –
it continues on the next page.
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