The Mistake

Chapter 6: The Silent Echo

If you hadn't betrayed me, I would never have killed Lily Garcia.

You two disgusting lovers deserve to die together! Ugh!

I spat, the bitterness in my mouth matching the anger in my heart. Having said my piece, I turned to leave the room.

To be honest, I thought the whole thing was absurd.

A name could make someone die? That was ridiculous.

But as I reached the door, I heard a voice call my name.

"Heh heh heh…"

The eerie laughter echoed through the room, and I turned, confused, to face Jason Thompson.

Just that one look sent a chill down my spine.

Jason had torn open his own throat.

The skin and flesh of his neck hung loosely, exposing pulsing blood vessels beneath.

And Jason’s hands were already digging into his carotid artery.

*Splash!*

A burst of blood splattered the air as Jason uttered his final, maddened words.

"Emma… you’ve summoned a devil."

"I’d rather die than face him…"

"But your end won’t be any better than mine. He’ll make sure you suffer a fate worse than death!"

"Heh heh heh…"

Jason was dead before the officers, led by Ava Williams, could rush in.

"What have you done?!"

Ava’s voice was sharp, laced with fury, but I felt nothing. My mind was far from her questions.

Jason’s words echoed in my head, *"Worse than death…"*.

I knew he wasn’t foolish enough to die just to scare me. What he said... it had to be true.

A realization hit me like a ton of bricks. Daniel Hayes, this mysterious man who’d been helping me, had a dark side.

Before I could fully process my thoughts, I was suddenly bound in handcuffs.

"Tell us what happened, Emma. What could have pushed a man to kill himself in such a horrific way?"

I was surrounded by officers, their eyes full of suspicion. Ava was at the center, staring at me as if I were a monster.

In the corner of the room, I saw a g*n barrel pointed directly at my head.

They were scared. This was beyond their understanding.

And if I made the wrong move, they wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

I was pale as a ghost, but my fear didn’t come from the officers. It came from Daniel Hayes.

After a moment of agonizing hesitation, I opened my mouth. "It was Daniel Hayes... he helped me. He made me… do it."

"Who?!"

Ava’s voice was sharp as a knife, her expression suddenly turning frantic. She rushed out of the room, only to return with a photograph.

"Is this the Daniel Hayes you’re talking about?"

I didn’t hesitate to nod.

The room fell silent.

Then, Ava’s voice cracked with disbelief.

"Emma, do you think we’re fools? This man... he’s been dead for three months. We shot him ourselves."

Dead? How could that be? He had been right there beside me.

But as I looked at the officers—firm, unyielding, convinced of their truth—my explanation felt hollow. It was as if I were trapped in a nightmare.

Maybe they would believe me if they saw it for themselves.

After a tense pause, Ava agreed to my suggestion.

They implanted a tiny camera in the pendant I always wore.

With it, I was sent back to the café where everything had started—Good Morning Café.

I sat down at my usual table in the corner. The air was thick with the smell of fresh coffee and pastries, but my heart pounded in my chest.

I was waiting for something, or someone, but I wasn’t sure what.

A few minutes passed before I felt the temperature shift. A chill settled into the air, and that’s when I saw him.

Daniel.

But he wasn’t Daniel anymore.

He was… different.

His eyes gleamed with an unnatural glow. His presence was unsettling, like a shadow in the corner of my vision that was slowly closing in on me.

My hands trembled as I clutched the pendant, silently begging for this nightmare to end.

But I knew now. There was no escaping. Not from him. Not from the devil I had invited into my life.

The café grew quieter as the clock ticked on. I realized something crucial: this was just the beginning.

And I was already in too deep.