chapter 1:The coffin
Chapter 1: The Coffin
Rain hammered against the rusted zinc roof like thousands of tiny fists, creating a terrifying rhythm that filled the abandoned room. Each drop sounded louder than the last, as if the storm itself was trying to break through the walls and reveal the secret hidden inside.
A sharp pain exploded inside Maya's head.
She groaned, her fingers curling against the cold, rough floor beneath her. Slowly, painfully, she opened her eyes.
At first, everything was a blur.
Dark shapes moved around her, and her vision struggled to adjust. The room was almost completely black except for a thin beam of light that slipped through a broken wooden window. The weak light revealed cracked walls, scattered pieces of furniture, and layers of dust covering everything.
The air was heavy.
It smelled of damp concrete, old wood, and something else.
Something metallic.
Blood.
Maya swallowed hard.
She blinked several times, trying to force her mind to understand what she was seeing.
"Where... am I?" she whispered.
Her voice was weak and unfamiliar, echoing through the empty room.
No one answered.
Only the sound of the rain replied.
She tried to move, but her body protested immediately. A wave of dizziness rushed through her, making her vision spin. She placed a hand on the floor and slowly pushed herself upward.
Her knees shook.
She reached for the nearest object—a rusty metal table beside her—to steady herself.
That was when she noticed it.
Her fingers were covered in dried blood.
Her heart stopped for a moment.
With trembling hands, she touched her forehead.
Pain shot through her skull.
There was a deep cut above her eyebrow, and the dried blood around it made her stomach twist.
"What happened to me?" she whispered.
She searched her memory, desperately trying to find answers.
The last thing she remembered was driving home after dinner with her husband, Ethan.
The rain had been falling heavily that night, making the roads dangerous. The windshield wipers had struggled against the storm, and the tension inside the car had been impossible to ignore.
They had argued.
She remembered Ethan's voice.
She remembered her own anger.
But she couldn't remember what started the fight.
It was all broken pieces of a forgotten moment.
Then came the bright headlights.
A loud horn cutting through the rain.
The sound of metal crushing against metal.
The violent force of the crash.
And then...
Nothing.
"Maya... think," she whispered, pressing her fingers against her temple.
But the harder she tried, the more her memories slipped away from her. It was like reaching for smoke. Every answer disappeared before she could hold onto it.
She forced herself to look around.
The room gave her no comfort.
There was no bed.
No hospital equipment.
No medicine.
No sign that anyone had tried to help her.
Only broken chairs, cracked walls, and a rusty table covered with years of neglect.
Someone had brought her here.
Someone had left her here.
The question was why.
Maya carefully moved around the room, ignoring the pain in her head. Every step felt uncertain, but fear pushed her forward.
She checked the corners.
Nothing.
She looked near the broken window.
Nothing.
Then something on the table caught her attention.
A folded newspaper.
Her chest tightened.
She didn't know why, but something inside her warned her not to touch it.
Still, she reached for it.
Her hands trembled as she picked it up.
The paper was slightly damp, but the words were still clear.
Her eyes moved to the date printed at the top.
Her blood ran cold.
It was today's date.
Slowly, she unfolded the newspaper.
The front-page headline immediately caught her attention.
BUSINESSMAN'S WIFE DIES IN TRAGIC CAR ACCIDENT. BURIAL TODAY.
Maya stared at the words.
For a moment, she forgot how to breathe.
Then she saw the photograph beneath the headline.
A photograph of a woman.
A familiar woman.
Her.
The smile.
The hairstyle.
The dress.
It was the same dress she had worn at the charity gala two weeks earlier.
The same face looked back at her from the newspaper.
Her face.
"No..." she whispered.
The word barely escaped her lips.
She shook her head, refusing to believe what she was seeing.
"This isn't possible."
Her hands shook violently as she read the article.
The report claimed that Maya Williams had died instantly in a terrible car accident. It stated that her family, friends, and her husband's business associates were gathering that afternoon to say goodbye.
To bury her.
Her funeral.
Maya's breathing became faster.
The room suddenly felt smaller.
The walls seemed to close around her.
"If I'm dead..."
She looked down at her hands.
The hands that were moving.
The hands that were shaking.
The hands that belonged to someone who was very much alive.
"...then who am I?"
A powerful clap of thunder shook the entire building.
Maya stumbled backward until her back hit the cold wall.
Her mind raced through impossible questions.
Someone had declared her dead.
Someone had identified a body as hers.
Someone had convinced the world that Maya Williams no longer existed.
But she was standing there.
Alive.
Terrified.
And completely alone.
A cold chill moved through her body.
For the first time, Maya understood something far more frightening than the accident itself.
Her death was not a mistake.
Someone wanted her gone.
