The Ghosts We Choose
1064 Words
The envelope’s contents were spread out on the table.
Two nights had passed at Lucas’s safehouse.
The silence inside was heavy and thick.
It wasn’t much, an old dry cleaner with blackout shades and a backup generator. Quiet. Safe. For now.
Sienna already missed her apartment.
Her mind replayed Ms. Malbridge’s warning, her face, her final scream, louder than her heartbeat pounding in her chest.
She was gone. Again.
This time, she wouldn’t come back.
Lucas hadn’t spoken much.
Sienna sat across from him, her thoughts spinning. Her body felt numb again.
She had watched her brother die on that screen, again.
The image was foggy, but Mira Wolfe, covered in blood and snarling, burned behind her eyes.
“She dressed like me,” Sienna said softly, shaking her head slowly in disbelief.
Lucas nodded, jaw tight. “To make it look like you were involved. Or to mess with your mind. Maybe both.”
Sienna swallowed hard. “She wanted to get close to Micah. But not because she liked him.”
“He knew something,” Lucas said. “And now he’s dead.”
“And Alexander followed them,” she whispered. “He always liked her. He didn’t hesitate at all.”
Lucas stood up, moving quickly to set up his equipment in silence.
Sienna sifted through the items on the table.
Dozens of photos, snapshots from old security footage, black and white prints.
Handwritten notes in ink, some neat like Ms. Malbridge’s, others rushed or angry.
A timestamped log of camera activity, with some entries erased after midnight.
Her eyes caught an image again, someone who looked just like her.
The girl in the sequin dress, standing by Micah Diaz at the bottom of a staircase.
Her hand on his chest. Whispering.
It was Mira Wolfe.
Sienna’s fingers brushed the picture gently.
She exhaled slowly. “They never planned to let Micah leave that night.”
Lucas turned on his screen. “We can enhance the footage. Clear up the frames. Find timestamps. Connect everything and…”
“It all tells a story,” Sienna finished. “One they tried to hide.”
He looked at her. “Are you sure about going public?”
She stared at the photo of Alexander, blood pooling around his neck.
The screams, hers and Samantha’s, echoed in her mind.
She remembered Jaxon, the last face she saw before blacking out.
“I want the world to see what they did,” she said. “But we do it our way.”
Lucas nodded. “We’ll need leverage. They’ll try to bury this again if they can.”
“I don’t care. Let them try. We won’t leak it. We’ll stage it, piece by piece. The footage, the witnesses. We will control the story.”
“Turn predators into prey,” he said.
She smiled, but there was no humor behind it.
Lucas hesitated. “You know this makes you a target.”
“I already am,” she replied.
Lucas searched through the flash drive from the box.
“What is it?” Sienna asked.
“Malbridge told us to find a name.”
Her pulse quickened. “Whose?”
He furrowed his brow. “She didn’t say. Just that it’s in the police report, if we get to it.”
“She said the file was hidden. What if it’s been destroyed?”
“That’s where I come in.” Said Lucas.
An hour later, a quiet beep sounded from his laptop. Lucas leaned closer. “I’ve got it.”
He had hacked past security, rerouting their IP through six fake addresses.
They were deep in the city archives. The system was old, slow, and hadn’t been updated in years. Perfect.
“Found it,” he said, pointing at the screen.
The case was labeled “Wolfe Gala Incident.” No names, just codes. A short summary, followed by corrupted entries.
He clicked on a hidden folder. A police interview transcript appeared, partly redacted.
Sienna leaned in further.
INTERVIEW LOG 7:
WITNESS NAME: REMOVED
DATE: [REMOVED]
SUBJECT: PROM NIGHT INCIDENT – REPORTED MURDER(S)
[...Transcript starts recording midway...]
OFFICER: What happened, who did you see?
WITNESS: A girl. She was pale skinned. She wore a dress with sequins. Her mouth and hands were red. She didn’t look human.
OFFICER: What else do you remember?
WITNESS: A man grabbed her. He called her Mira and told her they had to leave. There was another person with them. He wore a ring with a Wolfe crest.
[Recording stops suddenly.]
Sienna’s pulse quickens. “They knew. The police knew.”
Lucas hurriedly types on his keyboard. “This file was never officially logged. Someone hid it before it reached the system.”
Lucas opened another file... “Look at this,” he said. Another interview.
INTERVIEW LOG 9:
WITNESS: SAMANTHA CROSS
NOTE: Voluntary testimony. Witness came alone.
Sienna froze in place.
Lucas read aloud. “She saw Nate by the body…he looked guilty...he didn’t touch anything. He was frozen, as if he had no idea what just happened.”
Sienna whispered, “She tried to protect him.”
Lucas nodded. “Then someone got to her. She changed her story days later. They scared her away.”
Lucas leaned back. “We have enough, a timeline showing a staged seduction, two murders and one attempt. One witness falls silent. Another is framed. All buried under a family name.”
Sienna looked at the files, photos, and evidence. Her eyes burned.
“We take everything,” she said. “All hidden pieces become our weapon.”
Lucas tilted his head. “The Wolfe family won’t ignore this.”
“Good,” she replied sharply. “Let them come out of the dark.”
Lucas smirked. “What do we call this?”
“Chapter One,” she said.
Lucas laughs dryly. “Blood and fortune.”
“Burn their legacy,” Sienna added. She held up the photo again. Mira Wolfe, hiding behind someone else’s face. “We start with her.”
At the Wolfe family estate, Mira stands by a window, looking at the moon with flickering gold eyes.
“They’re coming,” she whispered.
Felix Moretti enters the room behind her. “Let them come.”
Mira showed her teeth, half-smile, half-sneer.
“Let’s see what they’ve dug up before we bury them again.”
- Writer
