The Truth In The Dark
1600 Words
The room went completely black.
Aliana froze.
For three seconds, nobody moved.
Then came the sound again.
A slow breath.
Someone was in the room.
Vincent immediately stepped in front of Aliana.
“Stay behind me.”
His voice was calm, but there was something different about it now.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For her.
“Vincent…” Aliana whispered.
“Don't move.”
A metallic click came from somewhere near the door.
Vincent reached for his phone, but before he could turn on the flashlight—
CRASH!
Something shattered across the room.
Aliana gasped.
A small object rolled across the floor and stopped beside her shoe.
She bent down instinctively.
“Don't!”
Vincent grabbed her wrist.
Too late.
She looked down.
It was a photograph.
The same photograph they'd been examining moments earlier.
Except someone had written something across the back.
In thick black ink.
SHE ISN'T YOUR SISTER.
Aliana's heart stopped.
“What does that mean?”
Vincent didn't answer.
“Vincent..?"
Still nothing.
Then the emergency lights flickered on.
The room was empty.
The door was still locked.
The windows were shut.
But the photograph was real.
And so was the message.
Vincent took it from her.
His jaw tightened.
“This wasn't here before.”
“You're lying.”
His eyes snapped toward hers.
“I don't lie to you.”
“You've been lying to me since the night we met!”
The words escaped before she could stop them.
Vincent stared at her.
Aliana's breathing became uneven.
“You knew who I was.”
Silence.
“You knew my name before I told you.”
Silence.
“You knew about my mother.”
Silence.
“And now suddenly there's a photograph of me from twenty-five years ago when I wasn't even alive yet?”
She stepped closer.
“What exactly do you know about me?”
Vincent looked away.
That was answer enough.
Aliana's expression hardened.
“Oh my God.”
She backed away.
“You knew.”
“Aliana—”
“You knew something was wrong with my identity.”
“I suspected.”
“You suspected?”
Her voice cracked.
“You suspected that I'm connected to your family, and you still hired me?”
“I didn't know the truth.”
“Then why did you hire me?”
Vincent hesitated.
That hesitation hurt more than any answer could have.
“Because I wanted to find out who you were.”
Aliana stared at him.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then she laughed bitterly.
“So that's what I am to you?”
“What?”
“A mystery.”
Vincent's expression softened.
“No.”
“Then what?”
He stepped toward her.
“You're the first person I've met in years who makes me forget that I don't trust anyone.”
Aliana's heart betrayed her with one painful beat.
She looked away.
“This isn't about feelings.”
“I know.”
“Then stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I'm something you can't let go of.”
Vincent didn't answer.
Because she was right.
Before either of them could speak again, his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His expression immediately changed.
“Who is it?” Aliana asked.
He answered.
“Talk.”
A man's voice came through the phone.
Vincent's face went pale.
“What?”
Aliana watched him carefully.
“Where?”
Another pause.
Vincent's eyes moved toward her.
“No. Don't touch anything.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?”
“My security team found something.”
“What?”
“They found your mother's old apartment.”
Aliana's breath caught.
“My mother didn't have an apartment.”
“Apparently she did.”
“Where?”
Vincent didn't answer immediately.
Then he said quietly,
“Thirty minutes from here.”
Aliana grabbed her bag.
“Take me there.”
“No.”
“Vincent.."
“It could be a trap.”
“I don't care.”
“I do.”
She stared at him.
“You don't get to decide everything for me.”
“I do when someone is trying to hurt you.”
“And who said they're trying to hurt me?”
Vincent's eyes darkened.
“The person who just broke into a locked room to leave you a message.”
That shut her up.
A few minutes later, they were in Vincent's car.
The city blurred outside the windows.
Neither of them spoke.
Aliana stared down at the photograph.
The little girl in it.
Her face.
Her eyes.
Her exact birthmark.
Everything.
But there was one detail she'd overlooked.
The girl wasn't alone.
Standing behind her was a woman.
Aliana zoomed in on the picture.
Her breath caught.
“Vincent..”
He glanced at her.
“What?”
She turned the photograph toward him.
“That's my mother.”
Vincent's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“Yes.”
“No.”
Aliana shook her head.
“Look at her.”
“I know who she is.”
“No. Look at what she's wearing.”
Vincent glanced again.
A hospital gown.
Aliana's eyes widened.
“My mother was pregnant.”
Vincent said nothing.
“She was pregnant in this picture.”
“Apparently.”
“Then who was the child?”
Silence.
“Aliana.."
“Who was that child?”
Vincent didn't answer.
She stared at him.
“You know.”
“I have a theory.”
“Tell me.”
“I think the photograph may have been taken the day you were born.”
Aliana went still.
“But the date says twenty-five years ago.”
“Yes.”
“I wasn't born twenty-five years ago.”
“I know.”
“So either the date is fake…”
She swallowed.
“…or I'm not who I think I am.”
Vincent looked at her.
“There's another possibility.”
“What?”
He hesitated.
“You weren't born when everyone says you were.”
The words hit her like a physical blow.
Before Aliana could respond, the car stopped.
They had arrived.
The building in front of them was old, abandoned and almost completely hidden behind overgrown trees.
Vincent got out.
Aliana followed.
“This place doesn't look abandoned,” she whispered.
“What?”
“There are footprints.”
Vincent immediately stopped.
He looked down.
Fresh footprints led toward the entrance.
Someone had been there recently.
He pulled out his phone.
“Stay close.”
They entered.
The hallway smelled of dust and rain.
At the end of the corridor was a door.
Adrian pushed it open.
Elena stopped breathing.
The room was filled with photographs.
Dozens of them.
Some showed her mother.
Some showed Adrian's father.
And some showed Aliana..
As a child.
At school.
At the park.
Walking home.
Sleeping.
Aliana's hands began to shake.
“Someone has been watching me my entire life.”
Vincent stared at the photographs.
His expression turned cold.
“No.”
“What?”
“These photographs weren't taken by the same person.”
“How do you know?”
“Because some of them are from before I was born.”
Aliana looked at him.
“What?”
He pointed to one photograph.
It showed Aliana as a little girl.
Beside her was a man.
Vincent's father.
Aliana's eyes widened.
“That can't be possible.”
Vincent picked up another photograph.
Then another.
His father appeared in all of them.
Always watching.
Always standing somewhere nearby.
Until he found one that made him freeze.
It showed Aliana's mother holding a newborn baby.
And standing beside her was Vincent's father.
But there was something written underneath.
A date.
October 14, 2001.
Aliana stared at it.
“That's my birthday.”
Vincent looked at her.
“No.”
“What?”
He turned the photograph over.
There was a handwritten note.
His father's handwriting.
THE FIRST CHILD FAILED.
Aliana's blood ran cold.
“What does that mean?”
Vincent didn't answer.
Then Aliana noticed something else.
There was a second photograph underneath.
She pulled it out.
Her hands trembled.
It showed her mother.
But she wasn't holding one baby.
She was holding two.
Twins.
Aliana stared at the photograph in disbelief.
“No…”
Vincent stepped closer.
“Aliana.."
She slowly turned the photograph over.
Written on the back were four words.
ALIANA AND AMMA — SISTERS.
Aliana's entire world seemed to tilt.
“Emma?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Who is Amma?”
Before he could answer—
A phone began ringing inside the room.
Not Vincent's.
Not Aliana's.
An old phone sitting on the desk.
It had one contact saved.
MOM.
Aliana slowly reached for it.
Vincent grabbed her hand.
“Don't.”
The phone stopped ringing.
Then immediately started again.
Aliana stared at the screen.
The caller ID changed.
It no longer said MOM.
It said—
ALIANA VALE.
Her own name.
Vincent's face went completely still.
The phone rang a third time.
And then a message appeared.
“If you're reading this, Vincent has finally told you about your sister.”
Aliana's eyes filled with tears.
Another message appeared.
“Now ask him why he killed her.”
Vincent's face drained of color.
Aliana slowly turned toward him.
“Vincent.."
He couldn't speak.
She took one step backward.
“Why does this person think you killed my sister?”
Vincent stared at the phone.
Then at Aliana.
And finally whispered:
“Because I was there when Amma disappeared."
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD