The moment the black SUV rolled to a stop outside my house, every instinct in my body screamed that something was terribly wrong.
Lily grabbed my arm so hard her fingernails dug into my skin.
“They found me,” she whispered.
My heart was racing.
“What do you mean they found you?”
Before she could answer, the driver’s door opened.
A tall man stepped out.
He wasn’t wearing a uniform.
He wasn’t carrying a badge.
Yet somehow, he looked familiar.
Terrifyingly familiar.
In his hand was a photograph.
My son’s photograph.
The exact school picture that had been displayed beside his coffin only days earlier.
My stomach dropped.
“How could he have that?” I asked.
Lily’s face turned ghost white.
“Because he was there.”
A chill ran down my spine.
“There where?”
“The day Ethan died.”
The room spun.
Outside, the man slowly approached my front door.
One step.
Then another.
Then another.
His eyes never left the house.
I quickly locked the deadbolt.
Click.
Click.
Click.
The sound echoed through the silent living room.
Lily suddenly pointed at Ethan’s backpack.
“Open the side pocket.”
My hands shook violently as I reached inside.
There was a folded piece of paper.
Nothing else.
Just a single sheet.
I unfolded it.
The handwriting belonged to Ethan.
I recognized it instantly.
My knees nearly buckled.
At the top of the page were four words:
IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME…
Panic surged through my chest.
The rest of the message was smudged, as if someone had spilled water on it.
Only fragments remained visible.
“Don’t trust…”
“The teacher…”
“Recorder…”
“They lied…”
A loud knock exploded against the front door.
BANG.
Both Lily and I jumped.
Another knock.
Even louder.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
“Mrs. Parker,” a man’s voice called out.
My blood froze.
How did he know my name?
“We need to talk.”
Lily immediately shook her head.
“No!”
The terror in her eyes was unlike anything I had ever seen.
“Don’t answer.”
Another knock rattled the entire house.
My heart hammered against my ribs.
“Who are you?” I shouted.
Silence.
Then came the answer.
“I was the last adult to see your son alive.”
Every ounce of air left my lungs.
Outside, the man slowly lifted the photograph toward the window.
Written across the back was a message in red ink.
A message I could read even from across the room.
My hands began trembling uncontrollably.
It said:
ASK THEM WHY THE SECURITY CAMERAS WERE DELETED.
The recorder suddenly crackled to life in my hand.
Neither Lily nor I had touched it.
Static filled the room.
Then a young voice emerged.
A voice I would recognize anywhere.
My son’s voice.
“M-Mom…”
I nearly collapsed.
Tears instantly blurred my vision.
“Mom, if you’re hearing this…”
The recording cut off.
Just three words.
Nothing more.
The screen on the recorder flashed.
One new audio file had appeared.
A file that hadn’t been there moments before.
The title read:
THE REAL REASON.
And before I could press play, every light in the house suddenly went dark.
To be continued in C0mments 👇
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