Chapter 4 - The Message My Mother Left Behind
I stared at the phone screen.
The message was still there.
"Because he was the one who helped me disappear..."
For several seconds, I couldn't move.
My mind kept replaying the same words.
Disappear.
Helped.
Admiral Carter.
None of them made sense together.
My mother had always told me the past was complicated.
But she never told me it was dangerous.
I picked up the old military phone from the kitchen counter.
It was heavier than I expected.
Not because of the device itself.
Because of everything connected to it.
Years of secrets.
Years of questions.
I pressed the screen.
Nothing.
The message disappeared.
The phone went dark.
I tried turning it on again.
Nothing happened.
"Lucas."
I jumped.
My mother was standing at the entrance of the kitchen.
I froze.
She looked exhausted.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
Like she already knew something had happened.
Her eyes moved from me to the phone in my hand.
Then she stopped.
"Where did you get that?"
Her voice wasn't angry.
It was afraid.
That scared me more.
"Mom."
I held up the phone.
"Why did you lie to me?"
Her face changed.
A small movement.
Almost impossible to notice.
But I saw it.
She knew exactly what I was talking about.
"Lucas..."
"No."
I stepped back.
"Everyone thinks I'm crazy."
My voice became louder.
"My teacher laughed at me. Everyone at school laughed at me."
She looked hurt.
"Lucas, I'm sorry."
"But you never told me the truth."
Silence.
She looked toward the window.
Then back at me.
"What did Admiral Carter tell you?"
I froze.
"You know he talked to me?"
She didn't answer.
That was the answer.
"Mom."
I lowered my voice.
"Who is Daniel Hayes?"
Her expression changed immediately.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
Fear.
She sat down slowly.
"Where did you see that name?"
"Admiral Carter showed me a picture."
She closed her eyes.
For a moment, she looked like someone carrying a memory too heavy to hold.
"Lucas, you shouldn't have seen that."
I stared at her.
"Why?"
She didn't respond.
"Why shouldn't I know about your life?"
"Because my life was supposed to stay away from yours."
I shook my head.
"But it didn't."
She looked at me.
"What do you mean?"
"Someone sent me a message."
Her body became completely still.
"What message?"
I handed her the phone.
She looked at the screen.
Nothing.
But I knew she believed me.
Because her hands started shaking.
"Mom?"
She stood suddenly.
"Where is your backpack?"
I was confused.
"What?"
"Your backpack, Lucas. Where is it?"
"It's in my room."
She walked quickly toward the stairs.
"Mom, what's happening?"
"Answer me."
I followed her.
"My backpack is upstairs."
She reached my bedroom door.
Then stopped.
Her hand hovered near the handle.
"Mom?"
She turned around.
"Did anyone follow you home?"
The question made my stomach drop.
"What?"
"Lucas."
Her voice was serious.
"Did anyone follow you?"
"No."
She stared at me.
Then slowly opened my bedroom door.
Everything looked normal.
My bed.
My desk.
My books.
But my mother didn't relax.
She walked inside.
She checked the window.
The closet.
Under the bed.
I had never seen her like this.
Not even once.
"Mom..."
She turned toward me.
"I need you to listen carefully."
I waited.
"Whatever happens next, you cannot trust everything you hear."
I frowned.
"Why?"
"Because people will try to use the truth against you."
"Who?"
She didn't answer.
That was becoming the worst part.
Everyone knew something except me.
My mother sat on the edge of my bed.
For a moment, she wasn't a former Air Force pilot.
She wasn't someone with secrets.
She was just my mother.
"I'm sorry."
The words surprised me.
"For what?"
"For making you grow up with half a story."
I sat across from her.
"Tell me the whole thing."
She looked down.
"I can't."
I felt disappointed.
Even though I expected it.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't know who is still watching."
The room became silent.
"Watching us?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
I looked around my room.
Suddenly, everything felt different.
The walls.
The windows.
The quiet.
"Mom, are we in danger?"
She didn't answer immediately.
Then she said:
"I don't know."
That scared me more than yes.
Because my mother was never someone who admitted uncertainty.
She always had a plan.
Always had an answer.
Except now.
She reached into the closet and pulled out a small box.
I had seen it before.
Many times.
But she never let me touch it.
"What is that?"
She placed it on the bed.
"This belonged to me before you were born."
She opened it.
Inside was an old military identification card.
A medal.
And a small black memory card.
My breathing changed.
A memory card.
The same kind of thing I had heard about earlier.
"What is that?"
My mother looked at it.
"Something I hoped you would never need."
I stared at her.
"What does it have?"
She hesitated.
"The truth."
Before I could ask anything else, there was a knock at the front door.
My mother immediately closed the box.
Her entire body changed.
The calm disappeared.
The soldier returned.
"Stay here."
"Mom..."
"Lucas."
Her voice was firm.
"Do not come downstairs."
She walked out.
I waited.
Five seconds.
Ten.
Then I heard voices.
A man's voice.
My mother's voice.
I couldn't understand the words.
I slowly stepped toward the hallway.
I knew I shouldn't.
But I couldn't stop myself.
I looked down.
A man was standing at the entrance.
I couldn't see his face.
Only his back.
But I recognized his voice.
Because I had heard it earlier.
At school.
In the auditorium.
My heart stopped.
It was Admiral Carter.
My mother looked terrified.
"Why are you here?"
The admiral's voice was low.
"Because Lucas found the phone."
My blood ran cold.
My mother looked toward the stairs.
She knew.
She knew I was listening.
"You shouldn't have come."
"I had no choice."
The admiral looked around the house.
"Someone else knows."
"Who?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he said something that made my mother step backward.
"Rachel, Daniel Hayes is alive."
The name hit the room like a storm.
My mother went pale.
"No."
"I'm afraid it's true."
"That's impossible."
The admiral reached into his coat.
He pulled out an envelope.
"I found this where he was last seen."
My mother didn't move.
"What is it?"
The admiral looked toward the stairs.
Directly at me.
I froze.
He knew I was there.
Then he said:
"It's addressed to Lucas."
My mother's face changed.
The admiral placed the envelope on the table.
My hands tightened around the railing.
A letter.
For me.
From someone I had never met.
Someone connected to my mother's disappearance.
The admiral turned toward the door.
"Rachel, we don't have much time."
"Why?"
He looked at the envelope.
Then whispered:
"Because Daniel Hayes didn't just leave a message."
A pause.
"He left proof."
The lights suddenly went out.
The house became completely dark.
My mother gasped.
The admiral moved instantly.
May you like
And from downstairs, someone opened the front door from the outside...
"Lucas..." a voice whispered from the darkness.
