Chapter 5: The Brother Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The photograph slipped from Daniel’s hand and landed on the floor between us.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Because the impossible thing standing in my kitchen was no longer a shadow from my past.
It was my brother.
Alive.
Older.
Different.
But unmistakably him.
His face had changed. The reckless smile I remembered from childhood was gone. His hair was longer, his cheeks thinner, and there was a scar running from his eyebrow down toward his cheek.
But his eyes were the same.
The same eyes that used to watch me from across our childhood bedroom when we were kids.
The same eyes that looked at me the night before he disappeared.
I stepped backward.
“No.””
Daniel tilted his head.
“Is that all you have to say?””
My fists tightened.
“You died.””
A small smile appeared on his face.
“No, Ryan. You were told I died.””
Emily stood beside the table, frozen.
“Daniel…”
His eyes moved toward her.
And the expression on his face changed.
Not anger.
Something worse.
Disappointment.
“You kept your promise.””
Emily’s lips trembled.
“What promise?””
Daniel looked at Anna.
“To keep her hidden.””
My stomach turned.
Anna immediately moved behind me.
I felt her small hand grab the back of my shirt.
“Stay away from her.””
Daniel looked at me.
For the first time, something like emotion crossed his face.
“You still protect everyone except yourself.””
I hated that sentence because it sounded exactly like something my brother would say.
Before everything went wrong.
Before the lies.
Before his disappearance.
“What happened to you?”” I asked.
Daniel looked around my house.
“This place.””
His voice became quiet.
“It always belonged to our family, didn’t it?””
I didn’t answer.
“Grandmother knew about the rooms behind the walls.””
My eyes narrowed.
“What?””
Daniel walked closer.
Emily stepped between us.
“Ryan, listen to me.””
I looked at her.
“You knew about this?””
She shook her head.
“Not everything.””
“Then tell me something.””
My voice cracked.
“Tell me one thing in this house that isn’t a lie.””
Nobody answered.
That silence hurt more than anything.
Daniel sat across from me at the kitchen table.
The same table where Lily ate cereal every morning.
The same table where Emily and I planned our future.
Now my brother sat there like he belonged.
Like he had never left.
Anna refused to look at him.
Lily stood at the stairs, holding her stuffed rabbit.
She had woken up during the shouting.
“Daddy?””
I turned immediately.
“Lily, sweetheart, go back upstairs.””
She looked at Anna.
Then Daniel.
“Is he the hungry friend’s daddy?””
The question froze everyone.
Daniel stared at my daughter.
“What did she say?””
I looked at Emily.
Her face went pale.
“Lily has been talking about someone in the wall for weeks.””
Daniel slowly smiled.
Not happily.
Sadly.
“She could hear him.””
“Who?””
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
“Someone who was never supposed to be there.””
A cold chill moved through me.
“Stop speaking in riddles.””
He leaned forward.
“Do you want the truth?””
“Yes.””
“You really want it?””
I slammed my hand on the table.
“Yes!””
Daniel nodded.
“Then you need to understand something.””
He pointed at Anna.
“She isn’t the first child hidden in this house.””
My blood ran cold.
“What?””
Emily covered her mouth.
Daniel continued.
“Our family had secrets long before you were born.””
I looked at the walls around me.
Suddenly, every strange sound made sense.
Every crack.
Every locked door.
Every room nobody talked about.
“Why?”” I whispered.
Daniel looked at me.
“Because our father was a monster.””
The room went silent.
I had spent my entire life believing my father was strict.
Cold.
Difficult.
But still my father.
Daniel saw the realization forming on my face.
“You remember him differently because you were younger.””
I shook my head.
“No.””
“You were eight when I left. I was sixteen.””
He looked down.
“I saw what he did.””
My voice became quiet.
“What did he do?””
Daniel looked toward Anna.
“He found out she existed.””
Emily started crying.
“I was scared.””
I turned toward her.
“Scared of what?””
She looked at Daniel.
“Your father threatened me.””
The words hit me.
“My father?””
She nodded.
“He said if I told anyone about Anna, he would take her away.””
Daniel clenched his jaw.
“He didn’t just threaten her.””
I looked at him.
“He tried to erase everything.””
A memory suddenly flashed through my mind.
A night from my childhood.
Rain.
Screaming.
My brother standing outside my bedroom door.
Telling me not to come out.
I had forgotten.
Or maybe I had forced myself to forget.
Daniel pulled another photograph from his coat pocket.
He placed it on the table.
This time, my hands shook before I even picked it up.
It showed my father.
My grandmother.
Daniel.
A baby.
And another person standing in the background.
A man whose face had been scratched away.
“What is this?””
Daniel watched me.
“That’s the man who helped Father.””
“Who?””
Daniel didn’t answer.
Instead, he pointed at the damaged face.
“Look closer.””
I stared.
Then I noticed something.
A ring.
On the man’s hand.
A silver ring with a black stone.
My heart stopped.
Because I had seen that ring before.
Recently.
On someone’s hand.
I slowly looked at Daniel.
“No.””
He nodded.
“Yes.””
“Who?””
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“Your wife knows.””
I turned toward Emily.
She looked terrified.
“Emily?””
She didn’t speak.
“Emily, who wears that ring?””
Her breathing became uneven.
Then she whispered:
“Ryan…”
The front window shattered.
Everyone screamed.
A rock hit the floor.
Wrapped around it was a piece of paper.
I picked it up.
There were only five words written on it.
*You should have left her hidden.*
And underneath the message was a symbol.
May you like
A symbol carved into the paper.
The same symbol carved into the wall behind the closet.
