They left almost everything behind—photos on the walls, toys scattered on the floor, the half-finished breakfast still on the table. The only thing that truly mattered now was distance from those eggs and the horror they hinted at. Outside, the world looked painfully normal: cars passing, birds singing, neighbors unaware that something unspeakable had just taken root a few feet away.
Lily clung to her mother’s hand, her mind replaying the expert’s eyes more than his words. Whatever he had seen in those shells had shaken him in a way adults never showed. That fear transferred into her bones. Even as authorities arrived and sealed off the house, Lily understood that life had split into a before and after. The mystery of the eggs might one day be solved, but the feeling they left behind never would.