PART 2
“Mom... is that man my dad?”
Hannah felt her knees weaken.
For ten years, she had imagined that moment.
She had rehearsed it while silently crying, washing dishes, waiting for buses, and counting coins for diapers.
But nothing could prepare her for hearing Owen ask that question in front of his grandparents.
Frank couldn’t stop staring at the photograph.
Diane cried quietly.
“Yes, sweetheart,” Hannah said, kneeling in front of Owen. “His name was Caleb Morris. And yes, he was your father.”
Owen swallowed.
“Did he know about me?”
Hannah closed her eyes for a second.
“No. He disappeared before I could tell him.”
Frank gripped the back of a chair.
“Caleb Morris...”
His voice sounded like he was saying the name of a dead man.
“You knew him,” Hannah said.
“He was an intern at the plant,” Frank murmured. “Brilliant kid. Stubborn as hell.”
Diane looked at her husband.
“Why did you never talk about him?”
Frank slowly shook his head.
“Because after that week… everything got cloudy.”
Hannah pulled out the USB drive.
“He gave me this before he disappeared.”
Frank stepped back as if the drive might burn him.
“Don’t plug that in.”
“Why?”
He didn’t answer.
But Hannah saw something in his eyes.
It wasn’t anger.
It was fear.
“Dad, I spent ten years believing you hated me because I got pregnant. I thought you chose your pride over your daughter. But now I can see there’s something you know.”
Frank sank into a chair.
“I don’t know if I know it… or if they made me forget it.”
Diane shivered.
“What are you talking about?”
Frank covered his face with his hands.
He explained that ten years earlier, workers had accused the Silver Creek Chemical Plant of dumping waste into the river.
Several townspeople had become sick.
Children with skin conditions.
Women losing pregnancies.
Elderly people developing cancer.
But no official report ever moved forward.
The owner, Victor Hayes, paid off doctors, lawyers, police officers, and political campaigns.
“Caleb started asking questions,” Frank said. “He checked reports, collected samples, recorded conversations. One night, he came to me. He said he needed help.”
Hannah tightened her grip around the USB drive.
“And did you help him?”
Frank began to cry.
“I think I did.”
The words split the room open.
Owen stood silently, his fists clenched.
“What do you mean, you think?” Hannah asked.
Frank struggled to breathe.
He said he remembered seeing Caleb that night.
He remembered a folder.
Some maps.
A sharp chemical smell.
May you like
After that, nothing.
