Chapter 5. {The Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing}
1079 Words
Melissa stared at the black card in her trembling hands.
The silver emblem reflected the morning sunlight—a raven enclosed within a circle of obsidian.
On the back, five words were written in elegant handwriting.
Stop looking for the truth.
Her heart pounded painfully against her ribs.
She looked around.
The street was crowded.
People hurried past with shopping bags.
A bus roared by.
A little girl laughed as she chased pigeons across the pavement.
Everything looked… normal.
Too normal.
Yet someone had slipped the card into her bouquet without her noticing.
Someone had been close enough to touch her.
Melissa quickly turned in every direction, scanning the faces around her.
An elderly couple.
A delivery rider.
Two students laughing over something on a phone.
No one seemed interested in her.
Still…
She couldn’t shake the feeling that a pair of unseen eyes were watching her every move.
……….
She reached the cemetery twenty minutes later.
Emily Anderson’s grave rested beneath a blooming jacaranda tree, where purple blossoms drifted gently onto the polished marble.
Melissa knelt, replacing the fading flowers with the fresh lavender she’d bought earlier.
“Hi, Mom.”
Her voice was softer than the breeze.
“I met someone today.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Actually… I don’t know if ‘met’ is the right word.”
She traced her mother’s name with her fingertips.
“Everyone was afraid of him.”
“But somehow…”
She paused.
“I wasn’t.”
Her smile faded.
“I found your letter.”
“I think…”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I know something happened to you.”
Tears welled in her eyes.
“And whoever left this card…”
She pulled it from her pocket.
“…doesn’t want me to find out.”
A gust of wind swept across the cemetery.
The black card slipped from her fingers.
Before it could hit the ground—
A polished black shoe stepped on it.
Melissa looked up.
A woman stood before her.
Elegant.
Poised.
Dressed in a cream-colored dress with a wide-brimmed hat.
Her warm smile was instantly familiar.
“Aunt Catherine?”
The woman smiled wider and opened her arms.
“My goodness…”
“There you are.”
Melissa stood and embraced her.
It had been months since she’d last seen Emily’s childhood best friend.
“You’ve gotten so tall.”
Catherine cupped Melissa’s face lovingly.
“You look so much like your mother.”
Those words made Melissa’s eyes sting.
“I miss her every day.”
Catherine’s own eyes glistened.
“So do I.”
She wrapped Melissa in another hug.
“You have no idea.”
Behind Melissa’s back…
Catherine’s smile disappeared.
Her gaze dropped to the black card lying beneath her heel.
Very carefully…
She bent down, picked it up before Melissa noticed, and slipped it into her handbag.
When she looked up again…
The warm smile had returned.
……….
That evening…
Jason unlocked the front door, exhausted from another restless day.
“Melissa?”
“In the living room!”
He walked in, stopping abruptly.
“Catherine?”
She rose from the sofa with a graceful smile.
“Hello, Jason.”
For a brief second…
Something unreadable passed between them.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
And guilt.
Melissa noticed neither.
“I ran into Aunt Catherine at the cemetery,” she said brightly. “I invited her over for tea.”
Jason forced a smile.
“That was… nice.”
Catherine tilted her head.
“You look tired.”
“Long day.”
She stepped closer and adjusted his crooked tie.
The gesture was innocent.
Natural.
Almost intimate.
Melissa frowned ever so slightly.
She had never seen Aunt Catherine do that before.
Jason gently took a step back.
“I’ll just go freshen up.”
He disappeared upstairs.
Catherine watched him until he was out of sight.
Only then did she smile.
A slow…
Satisfied smile.
…
Upstairs, Jason closed his bedroom door and leaned heavily against it.
His breathing became uneven.
She was here.
Why now?
A soft knock startled him.
“Jason?”
Catherine’s voice.
He hesitated before opening the door.
She slipped inside, closing it behind her.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
“I had to.”
“What if Melissa suspects something?”
Catherine chuckled.
“Oh, Jason.”
“She still thinks I’m her favorite aunt.”
Jason ran a hand through his hair.
“This is getting dangerous.”
Catherine stepped closer.
“So is your conscience.”
He looked away.
“I told you…”
“I can’t keep living with this guilt.”
For the first time, Catherine’s expression hardened.
“You don’t have a choice.”
She reached into her handbag and pulled out the black card.
Jason’s face drained of color.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was at Emily’s grave.”
Jason snatched it from her.
“This wasn’t there before.”
“No.”
Catherine smiled coldly.
“Which means…”
“…someone else knows.”
The room fell silent.
For the first time in years…
Fear settled into Catherine’s eyes.
Not fear of Jason.
Fear of whoever had sent the card.
…
That night…
Melissa couldn’t sleep.
She stood by her bedroom window, staring into the darkness.
Something felt…
Wrong.
A faint movement near the front gate caught her attention.
A hooded figure stood perfectly still beneath the streetlight.
Watching the house.
The figure slowly lifted a hand.
Not to wave.
To point.
Toward Emily’s bedroom.
Melissa’s breath caught.
She rushed downstairs, flung open the front door, and ran into the night.
“Wait!”
The figure disappeared around the corner.
Melissa chased after them barefoot, her heart hammering in her chest.
She turned the corner—
And stopped.
The street was empty.
No footsteps.
No shadows.
Nothing.
Then she noticed it.
Resting on the wet pavement…
A silver locket.
She recognized it instantly.
It belonged to her mother.
The same locket everyone believed had been buried with Emily.
Melissa picked it up with shaking hands.
Inside was a tiny folded photograph.
One side showed Emily holding a baby Melissa.
The other…
Made the blood drain from her face.
Emily stood smiling beside Jason.
And standing between them—
Was Catherine.
Written beneath the picture, in Emily’s handwriting, were six haunting words:
“The day everything began to change.”
Melissa looked up.
Somewhere in the darkness…
Someone laughed.
Softly.
Then silence.
- Writer
