Chapter 6 - THE PERSON BEHIND SOPHIA
Michael read the letter again.
And again.
Someone was controlling Sophia.
But who?
Rachel looked terrified.
“There is someone else.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You came here knowing all this, and you don’t know?”
Rachel looked down.
“I know one thing.”
“What?”
“She is afraid of him.”
Michael felt a chill.
“Sophia?”
Rachel nodded.
“She has been afraid for years.”
Michael went back to the hospital.
Emily was awake.
When he entered, she immediately noticed his face.
“What happened?”
Michael sat beside her.
“I found out more about Sophia.”
Emily looked worried.
“Tell me.”
He explained everything.
The money.
The secrets.
The will.
The person controlling Sophia.
When he finished, Emily was quiet.
Then she said:
“She wasn’t trying to hurt me.”
Michael looked confused.
“What?”
“She was trying to find something.”
“Yes.”
“But why hurt me?”
Michael didn’t have an answer.
Then Mason walked in.
“Dad?”
Michael turned.
“What is it?”
Mason held something in his hand.
A small memory card.
“I found this.”
Michael stared.
“Where?”
“Under the stairs.”
Emily sat up.
“What is it?”
Michael looked at the tiny card.
The camera.
The red light.
The recording.
The truth.
He rushed home.
Connected the memory card.
The video loaded.
The staircase appeared.
Sophia walked behind Emily.
Michael held his breath.
Then he saw it.
The push.
The fall.
The lie.
But then…
The video kept playing.
Sophia walked back upstairs.
She looked directly at the camera.
And she said something.
Something nobody expected.
Michael turned up the volume.
Sophia’s voice filled the room.
“I did what you told me.”
A pause.
Then:
“But I’m done taking orders from you.”
Michael froze.
Because Sophia wasn’t talking to herself.
Someone was there.
Someone standing outside the camera’s view.
Then another voice answered.
A man’s voice.
Calm.
Cold.
“You don’t get to quit.”
The video ended.
Michael stared at the black screen.
His heart was pounding.
Because he finally understood.
Sophia wasn’t the only monster in the house.
She was just the one everyone could see.
May you like
And the real danger…
Was still hiding.
