Chapter 6 - Ryan ran into the forest.Branches tore at his coat.
Rain blinded him.
“Noah!”
Nothing.
Then another scream.
“Dad!”
Ryan followed it.
He found Noah beside an old stone well.
The boy was trapped between two fallen trees.
Ryan pulled him free.
“Are you hurt?”
Noah shook his head.
“He was here.”
“Who?”
“Grandpa.”
Ryan turned.
There was nobody there.
Only rain.
Only trees.
Only darkness.
But on the ground beside the well was a silver photograph.
Ryan picked it up.
The image showed his father standing beside a pregnant Emily.
Six years earlier.
Ryan wasn't in the photograph.
He turned it over.
Written on the back:
SUBJECT R7.
Ryan's stomach twisted.
He looked at Noah.
“What did he say to you?”
Noah stared at the ground.
“He said you're not my real dad.”
Ryan's heart cracked.
“He said Mommy knows.”
Ryan looked toward the house.
Emily was standing in the doorway.
She couldn't see them clearly through the rain.
But Ryan saw something else.
Someone standing behind her.
A tall man.
Ryan blinked.
The man was gone.
When Ryan returned to the house, police were waiting.
Two officers.
A detective.
They had found no evidence of a kidnapping.
No broken locks.
No footprints beyond the property.
The detective, Mason Reed, looked skeptical.
Ryan didn't care.
“My son was taken.”
“We found him less than two hundred yards from your house.”
“Someone led him there.”
“You have proof?”
Ryan placed the photograph on the table.
The detective examined it.
His expression changed.
“You know this man?”
“My father.”
“What was his name?”
“Daniel Carter.”
Mason went quiet.
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“Daniel Carter died eleven years ago.”
Ryan stared.
“You seem very sure.”
“I was there.”
Ryan's skin prickled.
“You were there when he died?”
Mason nodded.
“I was a junior officer.”
“How?”
“He fell from the roof of this house.”
Ryan looked at Emily.
Her face was blank.
Mason continued.
“Your mother identified the body.”
Ryan whispered, “My mother died three years earlier.”
Mason frowned.
“You're right.”
A strange silence followed.
Mason looked at the photograph again.
Then at Ryan.
“There is something you need to know.”
“What?”
“Your father's death certificate was amended.”
“Why?”
“The original cause of death was listed as accidental fall.”
“And the amended version?”
Mason slid a copy across the table.
Manner of death: undetermined.
Ryan stared.
Someone had changed the record.
After eleven years.
Mason leaned closer.
“Two weeks ago, someone accessed the archived case.”
“Who?”
“Your wife.”
Ryan slowly turned toward Emily.
She began crying.
“I was looking for answers.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I found something.”
“What?”
She took a small envelope from her purse.
Inside was an old cassette tape.
Ryan frowned.
“What is this?”
“Your father left it.”
Mason looked uncomfortable.
“Where did you get that?”
Emily said nothing.
Ryan placed the cassette into an old recorder from the basement.
Static.
Then Daniel Carter's voice.
“If you're hearing this, Ryan, then the girl has returned.”
Ryan froze.
The recording continued.
“You have forgotten her before.”
Static.
“You will forget her again.”
Ryan looked at Emily.
The tape crackled.
“Her name is Mara.”
The machine hissed.
“And she is not dead.”
Then Daniel said something that made Ryan's blood turn cold.
“She is your daughter.”
The tape stopped.
Ryan stared at Emily.
“You knew.”
Emily whispered:
“Yes.”
Before Ryan could speak, every light in the house shut off.
The front door slowly opened.
Nobody touched it.
Rain blew inside.
A man's voice came from the darkness.
“Hello, son.”
Ryan couldn't move.
He knew that voice.
Every childhood nightmare had the same sound.
Daniel Carter stepped into the doorway.
Older.
Paler.
May you like
Alive.
And smiling.
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