Chapter 10 - MY FATHER WALKED OUT OF THE DARKFor a moment, nobody moved.
My father looked exactly as he had five years earlier.
Same posture.
Same cold eyes.
Same silver watch.
The only difference was the smile.
“You've grown into your father's stubbornness,” he said.
I stared at him.
“You died.”
He laughed.
“No.”
“You made us bury an empty coffin.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe my wife was dead.”
“Yes.”
I stepped toward him.
“You destroyed my life.”
He smiled.
“I built it.”
Sarah moved Emily behind her.
My father noticed.
“Still protecting the child.”
Sarah glared at him.
“She is not yours.”
“Everything in that family was mine before you existed.”
He turned toward me.
“Even your father's inheritance.”
I corrected him.
“My grandfather's.”
His face tightened.
“Your grandfather was a fool.”
“And you?”
“A survivor.”
I looked around.
Richard stood beside him.
Elias was behind us.
My mother was crying.
Rebecca had gone completely still.
Everyone had chosen a side.
Except me.
“What do you want?”
My father answered:
“The key.”
“What key?”
He pointed at Emily.
“Her memory.”
I frowned.
“She doesn't know anything.”
“She knows enough.”
He looked at Sarah.
“You told her, didn't you?”
Sarah said nothing.
My daughter whispered:
“Daddy…”
I crouched.
“What did Mommy tell you?”
Emily looked at Sarah.
Then at me.
“She said I have to remember the red room.”
Every adult in the room froze.
My father's expression changed.
“What red room?”
Emily continued.
“The room in Grandpa's house.”
He took one step forward.
“What else?”
“She said there were people crying.”
Sarah grabbed Emily.
“Don't.”
But my daughter kept talking.
“Mommy said Daddy put them there.”
My father stared at Sarah.
“What did you do?”
Sarah whispered:
“I told her the truth.”
My father raised the gun.
I moved in front of Emily.
He stared at me.
“Your daughter saw something when she was four.”
“What?”
“She saw the records.”
“What records?”
“The victims.”
Sarah shouted:
“Enough!”
My father smiled.
“You really thought memory disappears just because a child is young?”
I looked at Emily.
She had started crying.
“What happened in the red room?”
My father answered.
“Nothing she can't forget.”
Then the lights went out.
A gunshot rang.
Someone screamed.
When the lights returned, Richard was on the floor.
Elias was gone.
My father had vanished.
And Emily was missing again.
Sarah collapsed.
“No.”
I ran outside.
Rain poured over the cemetery.
On the ground was a red ribbon.
The same one Emily had worn in her hair that morning.
Attached to it was a note.
Three words:
COME TO WARD SEVEN.
I stared at the paper.
The old psychiatric hospital.
The place where Sarah had supposedly died.
The place where Emily's medical file had originated.
I looked at Rebecca.
She whispered:
“That hospital was closed eight years ago.”
I shook my head.
“It isn't closed.”
“How do you know?”
May you like
I held up the note.
“Because someone inside just sent us an invitation.”
