CHAPTER SEVEN
1730 Words
ANOTHER TORRENTS IN THE MOG
Dead for six months.
And somehow still here.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
The storm outside continued raging, but inside the study the world had become unnaturally still
Tania stared at her sister.
At least, the woman she had believed was her sister.
The woman she had insulted.
Mocked.
Called Ghost.
The woman she had watched sit at their dining table every night.
The woman who had asked about her day.
Who had gone to work.
Who had attended meetings.
Who had carried an entire business empire on her shoulders.
A dead woman.
A ghost.
The idea should have been impossible.
Yet there Ellen stood.
Real enough to see.
Real enough to hear.
And somehow not alive.
Farida was the first to react.
"No."
Her voice trembled.
"No, absolutely not."
Ellen looked at her quietly.
Farida shook her head violently.
"People don't come back from the dead."
"No," Ellen agreed softly.
"They don't."
"Then what are you?"
Silence.
A painful silence.
Then Ellen answered.
"I don't know anymore."
The honesty in her voice frightened Tania more than any lie could have.
Because Ellen wasn't pretending.
She genuinely didn't know.
Their mother wiped tears from her face.
"I should have told her."
"You couldn't."
"I should have."
"You were protecting her."
Their mother laughed bitterly.
"Was I?"
Nobody answered.
Because nobody knew anymore.
The room seemed filled with questions that had no answers.
Finally, Tania found her voice.
"What happened?"
Ellen's gaze shifted toward
"...I remember the rain."
Nobody spoke.
The storm outside seemed to quiet itself as Ellen stared beyond them, beyond the room, beyond the present.
As though she was looking directly into a memory.
"The night Augustus died."
Tania felt her stomach tighten.
Ellen rarely spoke this much.
When she did, every word seemed to carry weight.
"I left the house around eight."
Their mother lowered her head.
Farida remained frozen beside the desk.
"I had been arguing with Augustus for weeks."
Ellen continued.
"He knew something was wrong."
"What do you mean?" Tania asked.
Ellen hesitated.
For the first time, uncertainty appeared in her eyes.
"He kept telling me someone was watching us."
The room fell silent.
Immediately Tania thought of the figure beneath the oak tree.
The man she'd seen outside her window.
The man watching Ellen's room.
Ellen continued.
"At first I thought he was being paranoid."
"You didn't believe him?"
"No."
A sad smile touched her lips.
"I should have."
Thunder rumbled outside.
The lights flickered briefly.
Ellen glanced toward the window.
Almost nervously.
"I remember receiving a phone call."
"From who?" Farida asked.
"I never found out."
The answer surprised everyone.
"The voice was distorted."
"What did they say?"
Ellen's expression darkened.
"They told me Augustus would die if I didn't come alone."
Tania's blood ran cold.
"What?"
"I thought it was a prank."
Ellen laughed bitterly.
"But Augustus panicked."
The memory clearly hurt.
"I left anyway."
The room seemed colder now.
The atmosphere tightening around every word.
"I drove toward the river."
The river.
Again.
Everything kept leading back there.
The dreams.
The journal.
The disappearance.
Now this.
Ellen slowly closed her eyes.
"I remember headlights."
Her voice became distant.
Faint.
"Then another vehicle behind me."
Nobody interrupted.
Nobody dared.
"The rain became heavier."
She swallowed.
"I couldn't see clearly."
A tear rolled down her cheek.
"I remember someone stepping into the road."
The room froze.
Farida unconsciously grabbed Tania's arm.
Ellen continued.
The room remained silent after Ellen finished speaking.
Nobody knew what to say.
Nobody knew how to react.
The truth had finally begun to emerge, yet it only created more questions.
The rain continued striking the windows.
The grandfather clock ticked softly in the corner.
Every second felt heavier than the last.
Tania sat opposite Ellen.
For the first time since childhood, she wasn't looking at her sister with irritation.
She was looking at her with fear.
And sympathy.
The combination felt strange.
Uncomfortable.
Because all those years she had spent hating Ellen suddenly seemed meaningless.
If Ellen was telling the truth, then her sister had spent six months trapped between life and death.
Alone.
Watching everyone move forward without her.
Watching her family mourn her.
Watching herself become a secret nobody understood.
The thought made Tania's chest ache.
Farida finally broke the silence.
"So let me get this straight."
Nobody interrupted.
"You died."
Ellen nodded.
"You came back."
A pause.
Ellen nodded again.
"And now some creepy man is following you because of something Augustus knew?"
Another pause.
"I believe so."
Farida leaned back slowly.
"I need a stronger drink."
For the first time that night, a faint smile touched Ellen's lips.
Brief.
Almost invisible.
Yet it was there.
Tania noticed.
And somehow it hurt.
Because Ellen smiled like someone who had forgotten how.
---
The following morning arrived grey and cold.
Nobody slept much.
The atmosphere inside the house had completely changed.
Pretending was no longer possible.
The secret had been exposed.
The truth stood in plain sight.
Yet strangely, life continued.
Breakfast still happened.
Coffee was still brewed.
The sun still rose.
Only now everyone knew they were sharing a table with someone who wasn't supposed to be alive.
Tania found herself staring at Ellen again.
Not out of suspicion this time.
Out of curiosity.
She noticed details she'd ignored before.
The way Ellen rarely blinked.
The way food remained untouched on her plate.
The way sunlight seemed softer around her.
As though reality itself struggled to hold onto her.
Their mother looked exhausted.
Years older than she had yesterday.
She set down her cup slowly.
"We need to find out what Augustus knew."
Ellen lifted her gaze.
"Mom."
"No."
The older woman's voice hardened.
"You spent six months carrying this alone."
Silence.
"I'm done waiting."
Tania exchanged a glance with Farida.
The determination in her mother's voice surprised everyone.
Even Ellen.
"Where do we start?" Tania asked.
Nobody answered immediately.
Then Ellen spoke quietly.
"Augustus kept records."
Farida frowned.
"Records of what?"
"I don't know."
The admission frustrated her.
"You don't know anything?"
"I know he was afraid."
Ellen's eyes darkened slightly.
"He stopped sleeping properly before he died."
The room became silent.
"He kept locking his office."
"Did he tell you why?" Tania asked.
"No."
"Nothing?"
"He only said one thing."
Everyone leaned forward.
Ellen looked toward the rain-soaked window.
Then repeated the exact words.
"'If something happens to me, don't trust anyone connected to the river.'"
A chill spread through the room.
The river again.
Always the river.
Every clue seemed to lead back there.
Every secret.
Every warning.
Every nightmare.
The river.
---
By noon, Tania and Farida stood inside Augustus Coker's old office.
The room had remained untouched since his death.
Dust covered the shelves.
Documents filled the cabinets.
A faint smell of old paper lingered in the air.
Farida sneezed dramatically.
"I'm going to die in here."
"Please don't."
"Why?"
"We already have one dead person in the family."
Farida stared.
Then burst into laughter.
Even Tania laughed.
The joke felt wrong.
Yet necessary.
Without humor, everything felt too terrifying.
Hours passed.
Nothing.
Just paperwork.
Contracts.
Financial reports.
Letters.
Boring corporate documents.
Then Tania noticed something strange.
One bookshelf looked different.
Newer.
Cleaner.
As though it had been moved recently.
"Farida."
"What?"
"Help me."
Together they pushed.
The shelf shifted slightly.
Both girls froze.
Then pushed harder.
A hidden compartment revealed itself behind the wall.
Farida's eyes widened.
"Oh my God."
Inside sat a small metal box.
Locked.
Dust-free.
Deliberately hidden.
Tania's pulse quickened.
"This has to be it."
Farida nodded.
"It better be."
Because if they had moved an entire bookshelf for old tax records, she was going home.
The lock wasn't difficult.
The key sat taped beneath the box.
Almost as though Augustus had wanted someone to find it.
Eventually.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Tania opened it.
Inside lay photographs.
Dozens of them.
Newspaper clippings.
USB drives.
And a leather notebook.
The moment she touched the notebook, something felt wrong.
A strange unease settled over her.
The cover carried a single handwritten message.
FOR ELLEN.
The room suddenly felt colder.
Farida noticed immediately.
"Did you feel that?"
Tania nodded.
Neither girl looked comfortable anymore.
Carefully, she opened the notebook.
The first page contained Augustus's handwriting.
If you're reading this, then either I'm dead...
or Ellen finally knows the truth.
The girls exchanged glances.
Neither spoke.
Tania continued reading.
The river isn't just a river.
People think it is.
They're wrong.
Something happened there years ago.
Something powerful.
Something buried.
The handwriting became shakier.
More desperate.
There are people protecting the secret.
Rich people.
Powerful people.
People willing to kill.
Farida swallowed.
"This keeps getting worse."
Tania continued.
I saw things I wasn't supposed to see.
And now they're watching me.
If they come for me, they'll come for Ellen too.
The room fell silent.
A terrible realization formed.
Augustus had known.
Known he was in danger.
Known Ellen was in danger.
Perhaps even known he would die.
The final paragraph chilled them both.
If Ellen is still here, then death didn't finish what they started.
And that means they're still hunting her.
A loud crash echoed somewhere outside.
Both girls jumped.
The notebook slipped from Tania's hands.
"What was that?"
Farida moved toward the window.
The moment she looked outside, her face changed.
Completely.
Fear drained every trace of color from her skin.
Tania's stomach tightened.
"What?"
Farida didn't answer.
"What?"
Slowly.
Very slowly.
Farida pointed toward the garden.
Toward the oak tree.
Tania followed her gaze.
Her blood turned cold.
The man stood there again.
Motionless.
Watching the house.
Watching them.
His dark coat swayed in the wind.
Rain fell around him.
Yet somehow none of it seemed to touch him.
He looked exactly as he had before.
Exactly.
Which was impossible.
Because no normal person could remain standing in a storm for hours.
No normal person could appear and disappear without explanation.
And then the man smiled.
Not a friendly smile.
Not a human smile.
Something colder.
Something ancient.
Something that made Tania's entire body tremble.
Then he slowly raised one hand.
And pointed directly at the window.
Directly at them.
As if he knew they had found Augustus's notebook.
As if he had been waiting for it.
And suddenly, both girls realized something terrifying.
They weren't investigating him anymore.
He was investigating them.
- Writer
