Piece By Piece

Chapter Two: Spot the Difference

      Lily woke the next morning to the sound of her alarm. Reluctantly, she untangled herself from James' arms and slapped the button on the clock to stop the beeping. She pulled herself out of bed with the enthusiasm one shows when taking out the trash. Her movements stirred James; he slowly opened his eyes, stretched his limbs, and gave Lily a look that said "don't go."

      Lily smiled apologetically at him. "I have to, I still have work."

      James propped himself up on his elbows. "You can't take one day off? For me?"

      That got a laugh out of Lily. "I'm sorry."

      "You'll have to make it up to me later."

      "We'll see." Lily changed into her work clothes and leaned down to kiss James on the forehead. "I'll be home around seven," She said, her hand lingering on his cheek. "I love you."

      "I love you too," He replied, and lifted himself up to give her a kiss on the lips.

       Lily smiled and stood up. She left the room and made her way downstairs. But when she tried to turn on the kitchen light, it wouldn't work. Weird, she thought, I replaced that bulb last week. She shrugged it off and opened the refridgerator to get a yogurt. Instead she was met with the combined stench of everything in the refridgerator having gone bad. Lily slammed the door shut and reeled backwards. What the hell?! 

      "Lily?" James called from upstairs, "everything alright?"

      She didn't answer. How could all of the food have expired? The oldest of it was bought only two weeks ago! Lily looked around the kitchen. The bread was moldy, but it wasn't the bread she'd bought on her way home from work earlier that week. Other than that, she noticed the kitchen counters looked different than how she and James had left them the night before. She tried to turn on every light in the kitchen. No dice. She tried to turn on the sink. No dice. She reached for the blender that had been left plugged in and instead her hand found... 

      ...a sippy cup?

      Lily's world stopped. She hadn't seen or touched a sippy cup in years. She held this one up and studied it, recognizing it almost immediately as one that Harry drank out of. The though of Harry brought back even more memories. Her head began to spin. Thoughts flew at hundreds of kilometers an hour. She needed to sit down. Why would Harry's bottle be out? Why does my house look like it hasn't been touched in years? What's going on-

      "Lily?" 

      Lily spun around to face James, who was now standing in the doorway of the kitchen. 

      "Are you alright? I called from upstairs; you didn't answer."

      All she could do was stare at him.

      James' face was twisted with concern. "Is something going on?" He began to move closer. "The lights aren't working, something in here smells awful, and you're just standing here holding..." His face fell when he saw the sippy cup. "Where did you find that?"

      Lily regained some of her senses. "It was on the counter."

      "What?"

      "I don't know, it just was." Lily paused; she still wasn't fully present. "All of our food has gone bad."

      "I can smell that," James scoffed as he took her free hand in his.

      "None of the lights or plumbing work."

      "Yeah, I know." James was still looking at her with concern. "Is there something else?"

      Lily looked down at her feet, then back up at James. "I know it sounds weird but..." She let go of his hand and walked into the living room. He followed. What she saw confirmed her suspicion: the room was strewn with baby toys and right in the middle was a playpen, just about the right size for a 1 year old. She turned to face James, who had now gone just as pale as she had.