Innocent me.... Episode 9
263 Words
Ella stumbled backward, nearly dropping the photograph from her shaking hands.
“No…” she whispered weakly.
Her father’s face remained on the television screen as the reporter continued speaking about a reopened investigation connected to several disappearances from years ago. Ella could barely hear the words properly. Her mind was spinning too fast.
Her father wasn’t missing.
At least, that was what her mother had always told her.
She had grown up believing he abandoned them when she was little. Every time Ella asked questions, her mother would simply say, “Forget him. He chose to leave.”
But this…
This changed everything.
Jayden noticed the fear spreading across her face. “Ella?”
She slowly looked at him, tears gathering in her eyes. “My mother lied to me.”
The words felt painful leaving her mouth.
Jayden gently turned off the television, the silence afterward feeling even heavier. “Maybe there’s something she was trying to protect you from.”
Ella shook her head quickly. “No. There has to be an explanation.”
Suddenly, her phone vibrated inside her pocket.
With trembling fingers, she pulled it out.
Unknown Number.
A strange feeling settled in her chest as she answered carefully. “Hello?”
At first, there was only static.
Then a low voice whispered through the phone.
“If you want the truth about your father… stop following Jayden Cole.”
The call ended immediately.
Ella’s blood ran cold.
But what terrified her most wasn’t the warning.
It was the fact that the voice sounded exactly like her mother’s.
- Writer
