Chapter 8 - The Woman Who Never Left
Chapter 8 - The Woman Who Never Left
The security monitor flickered.
The entire mansion became silent.
Nobody moved.
Nobody could believe what they were seeing.
The person standing beside Daniel in the dark room slowly stepped closer to the camera.
The face remained hidden.
Only the bracelet was visible.
A small silver bracelet with a tiny diamond charm.
The same bracelet the father had placed beside his wife's photograph after her death.
The same bracelet he believed disappeared forever on the night everything changed.
The father stared at the screen.
His breathing became heavier.
"No..."
The girlfriend looked at him.
"What is it?"
The father didn't answer.
His eyes never left the monitor.
Because the impossible was happening again.
First Michael.
Now this.
The past was coming back one piece at a time.
The person in the video reached toward Daniel.
The boy moved away.
That movement hurt the father more than anything.
Daniel wasn't afraid of a stranger.
He was afraid of someone he knew.
Someone familiar.
Someone who had earned his trust.
The father stepped closer to the screen.
"Daniel."
The boy looked directly into the camera.
"Dad?"
The father felt his chest tighten.
"I'm here."
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
"She's coming back."
Everyone froze.
The father looked around.
"Who?"
Daniel opened his mouth.
But before he could answer, the screen suddenly went black.
The connection disappeared.
The father turned toward Michael.
"What did you do?"
Michael looked amused.
"Nothing."
The father grabbed him by the jacket.
"Where is my son?"
Michael did not resist.
Instead, he smiled.
"You still don't understand."
The father pushed him away.
"Then explain."
Michael adjusted his coat.
"Your family was never destroyed by one person."
"It was destroyed by everyone keeping a secret."
The contractor looked toward the security monitors.
"Who was the woman on the screen?"
Michael looked at the father.
"Someone you thought you lost."
The father felt a chill.
"That is impossible."
Michael smiled.
"Seven years ago, you believed your brother was dead."
A pause.
"Now you know he wasn't."
The father stared.
"You are saying..."
Michael nodded.
"People can disappear when others need them to disappear."
The girlfriend suddenly stepped forward.
"Stop."
Everyone turned.
She looked terrified.
"You can't bring her into this."
The father looked at her.
"You know who she is."
The girlfriend remained silent.
The father walked closer.
"Tell me."
Still nothing.
"Tell me!"
His voice echoed through the mansion.
The woman finally broke.
"Her name was Claire."
The father's face changed.
The name struck him like a weapon.
Claire.
His wife's name.
The mother of his child.
The woman he buried seven years ago.
The room became completely still.
The contractor looked confused.
"Your wife?"
The father slowly turned.
"My wife died the same night Daniel disappeared."
Michael watched him carefully.
"But did you ever see the body?"
The question destroyed the silence.
The father's face went pale.
Because the answer was no.
He never saw her.
He was told.
He was given documents.
He was shown reports.
But he never saw her.
The girlfriend lowered her head.
"I thought she was dead too."
The father looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
She swallowed.
"It means Michael lied to all of us."
Michael smiled.
"Not all of you."
The father looked at him.
"Who knew?"
Michael said nothing.
The father understood.
Someone else knew.
Someone who had been controlling everything.
A person hidden behind every lie.
Suddenly, Daniel's camcorder on the table turned on by itself.
Everyone looked.
The screen showed a new recording.
A recording that had not been there before.
The father pressed play.
Daniel appeared.
His face was close to the camera.
He looked exhausted.
But determined.
"Dad."
The father leaned closer.
"If you found this..."
Daniel looked behind him.
"...then they know I escaped."
The father clenched his fists.
Daniel continued.
"There is something I never told you."
A pause.
The boy looked directly into the camera.
"The person who put me behind the wall..."
Everyone held their breath.
Daniel whispered:
"Was not the person you think."
The father stared.
"What does that mean?"
The recording continued.
Daniel looked terrified.
"Mom was trying to save me."
The room froze.
The father stopped breathing.
"Your mother..."
Daniel nodded in the recording.
"She hid me because she found out the truth."
A strange sound came from the hallway.
Everyone turned.
The front door slowly opened.
Cold air entered the mansion.
A woman's voice echoed through the house.
"Daniel."
The father froze.
Because he knew that voice.
Everyone knew that voice.
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And after seven years...
The impossible had returned home.
