Chapter 4: The Call From the Dead
For three seconds, nobody moved.
The phone continued ringing in Daniel’s hand.
The sound was ordinary.
A simple ringtone.
The kind of sound I had heard hundreds of times.
But in that moment, it felt impossible.
Because the name flashing on his screen belonged to someone who had been buried six years ago.
Lucas.
My brother.
My daughter’s imaginary visitor.
The man whose handwriting had appeared on a note beside her pillow.
The man who was supposed to be gone forever.
Daniel stared at the phone like it was a poisonous animal.
“Answer it,” I whispered.
His eyes snapped toward me.
“What?””
“Answer it.””
He didn’t move.
The phone kept ringing.
Emily stood beside me, clutching her rabbit.
“Daddy?””
Daniel finally looked at her.
For a moment, something passed through his expression.
Fear.
Not the kind of fear someone feels when they see something impossible.
The kind of fear someone feels when they see something they already expected.
That realization hit me harder than the phone call itself.
Daniel knew something.
He knew.
I stepped closer.
“Why are you scared?””
“I’m not.””
“You are.””
He looked away.
The phone stopped ringing.
Silence filled the room.
Then, immediately, it started again.
Same name.
Same impossible caller.
Lucas.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Then he answered.
“Hello?””
His voice was barely above a whisper.
I moved closer, trying to hear.
At first, there was only static.
A faint crackling sound.
Then Daniel’s face changed.
“What?””
He looked at me.
Then at Emily.
“No, that’s not possible.””
My heart began pounding.
“Who is it?””
Daniel ignored me.
“How did you get this number?””
A pause.
His hand tightened around the phone.
“No.””
Another pause.
Then his voice dropped.
“I told you not to contact me again.””
The words hit me like a punch.
I stared at him.
Not contact me again?
Who was he talking to?
The dead?
Daniel suddenly walked out of the room.
I followed him.
“Daniel!””
He turned around sharply.
“Stay with Emily.””
The command in his voice made me stop.
Not because I wanted to obey.
Because I had never heard him speak that way before.
He wasn’t asking.
He was afraid.
I waited until he stepped into the hallway.
Then I quietly followed.
He stopped near the staircase.
His back was toward me.
“I don’t understand,” he said into the phone.
A pause.
Then:
“No. She doesn’t know.””
My breath caught.
She.
Who was she?
Me?
Emily?
Daniel lowered his voice.
“You’re making a mistake.””
Another pause.
His expression hardened.
“You should have stayed gone.””
My stomach twisted.
Stayed gone?
I had no idea what those words meant.
But I knew one thing.
Daniel wasn’t talking to a stranger.
He was talking to someone from his past.
Someone he was terrified of.
Suddenly, the call ended.
Daniel turned.
And saw me.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then I asked the only question that mattered.
“Who was that?””
He looked exhausted.
“Someone I used to know.””
“Someone who is dead?””
His silence was enough.
I felt my anger rising.
“Daniel.””
“I need time to explain.””
“No.””
My voice surprised even me.
“I need the truth.””
He looked toward Emily’s room.
“Not in front of her.””
I laughed bitterly.
“Funny. She seems to know more than I do.””
Daniel’s face tightened.
“That’s not fair.””
“Fair?””
I stepped closer.
“My daughter has been terrified for a week. She says someone is lying beside her at night. She knows things about my dead brother.
A note appears in her room. Your phone gets a call from a dead man.””
My voice cracked.
“And you’re telling me you need time?””
Daniel looked down.
For once, he had no answer.
That afternoon, I did something I hadn’t done in years.
I went through old boxes.
Not because I wanted memories.
Because I needed proof.
I found Lucas’s old photographs.
His hospital records.
His letters.
Everything I had kept hidden away because looking at them hurt too much.
Emily followed me into the storage room.
“Mom?””
I looked up.
She was holding her rabbit.
“Why are we looking for Uncle Lucas?””
I froze.
“You remember him?””
She nodded.
“Of course.””
I sat down.
“Emily, you were only two when he died.””
She looked confused.
“I know.””
“Then how do you remember him?””
She hugged the rabbit.
“He used to sing to me.””
My eyes filled with tears.
“He did?””
She nodded.
“The same song Daddy sings.””
I felt a strange emptiness in my chest.
“What song?””
She started humming.
The moment I heard the melody, I stopped.
Because it wasn’t Daniel’s song.
It was Lucas’s.
A song he used to sing when we were children.
A song nobody else knew.
Nobody.
Not even Daniel.
I stood up.
“Emily.””
“Yes?””
“Has Uncle Lucas ever told you anything else?””
She nodded slowly.
“He told me to tell you not to trust the man who smiles when he’s lying.””
The room went cold.
“What man?””
She looked toward the hallway.
“Daddy.””
I couldn’t breathe.
“Emily…”
She immediately looked guilty.
“I’m sorry.””
“No, sweetheart. Why would you say that?””
“Because Uncle Lucas said you would be angry.””
My heart broke.
I pulled her into my arms.
“I’m not angry.””
But deep down, I was terrified.
Because six years ago, when Lucas died, Daniel was the doctor who signed the final report.
Daniel was the person who told our family there was nothing anyone could do.
Daniel was the person who held my hand while I cried.
My husband.
The man I trusted more than anyone.
And now my daughter was afraid of him.
That night, after Emily fell asleep, I sat alone in the living room.
Daniel came downstairs.
He looked like he hadn’t slept.
“We need to talk.””
I didn’t look at him.
“Yes.””
He sat across from me.
“Lucas and I knew each other before you met me.””
I frowned.
“What?””
Daniel swallowed.
“We worked together.””
My eyes narrowed.
“You never told me that.””
“Because I knew how much he meant to you.””
“That doesn’t make sense.””
Daniel looked down.
“Lucas was my patient.””
The room became silent.
My heart started beating faster.
“What are you saying?””
Daniel rubbed his hands together.
“Six years ago, when he got sick…”
He stopped.
I waited.
“When Lucas came to the hospital, I was one of the doctors involved.””
I stared at him.
“You said you were called in after.””
“I lied.””
The confession landed softly.
But it destroyed everything.
“You lied?””
Daniel nodded.
“Lucas knew something was wrong.””
“What does that mean?””
“He thought someone was trying to hurt him.””
I felt a chill.
“Who?””
Daniel didn’t answer.
Instead, he reached into his pocket.
He pulled out his phone.
Then he showed me something.
A message.
From Lucas.
Sent six years ago.
The day before he died.
My hands shook as I read it.
It said:
“Daniel, if anything happens to me, she needs to know the truth. I recorded everything.””
I looked up.
“What truth?””
Daniel’s face was pale.
“I don’t know.””
“You don’t know?””
“No.””
“Then why are you afraid?””
Daniel stared at the message.
“Because Lucas wasn’t the only one who received that recording.””
My blood turned cold.
“Who else?””
He looked directly at me.
And whispered:
“You did.””
I stared at him.
“I never received anything.””
Daniel’s voice broke.
“That’s because someone deleted it before you could see it.””
The room went silent.
Then my phone vibrated.
A notification appeared.
Unknown sender.
One new video file.
My fingers froze.
Because the title of the video was:
*“The Night Lucas Died.””*
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And beneath it was a message:
*“Watch this before Daniel finds out I sent it.””*
