Chapter 1: Three Taps Beneath the Flowers
Three soft taps from inside a c0ffin exposed a secret that had almost been b*ried six feet below the ground.
Twelve-year-old Ethan Parker was never meant to be alone beside his mother's c0ffin.
Before the f*neral officially began, though, he silently slipped away from the adults and entered the well-lit hall where Claire Parker's white c*sket sat beneath large displays of flowers.
Ethan gently placed one hand on top of the lid.
Ethan lowered his head.
"I'm sorry I never had the chance to say goodbye, Mom."
Then three faint sounds reached his ears: Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Ethan instantly froze in place.
Those three knocks had a very personal meaning to him.
When Ethan was younger, Claire used to tap three times on his bedroom door every night before he fell asleep.
Those three knocks had always meant the same thing: I love you.
Ethan pressed his ear tightly against the c0ffin lid.
Ethan whispered toward the c*sket.
"Mom?"
A second faint thump came from somewhere inside.
Ethan spun around immediately and ran to find his stepfather.
Richard did not open the c0ffin, and he made no attempt to call anyone for help.
Instead, he simply stared at Ethan with a cold expression that gave nothing away.
Richard fixed his eyes on him.
"Never say that again."
So Ethan began searching for a h*mmer.
When the f*neral started, he rushed toward the c0ffin and swung the tool with every bit of strength he could gather.
The guests cried out in alarm as Richard shouted for someone to stop the boy.
But nobody moved quickly enough before the h*mmer slammed into the c0ffin with a loud CRACK, splintering part of the lid.
Ethan struck it again.
A narrow gap finally appeared through the damaged wood, and then a frightened woman among the guests spotted something shifting beneath the broken section.
The woman stared at the opening.
"Oh my God."
Richard abruptly pulled out a handg*n.
The entire room appeared to go still as he raised it and aimed it toward the gathered guests.
Richard kept the w*apon pointed outward.
"EVERYONE STEP BACK!"
But Ethan moved still closer to the c0ffin.
Through the jagged hole in the lid, he could at last see a face staring back at him.
It was his mother.
She was alive.
Tears streamed down Claire's cheeks while silver duct tape covered her mouth.
She had been trapped inside the c0ffin while dozens of people stood around it, believing they had come there to m0urn her.
And Richard — the man who had persuaded everyone that she was g*ne — was now pointing a g*n at anyone who tried to approach her.
Only minutes before, Ethan had watched people getting ready to say their final goodbyes to his mother.
Now he understood something much more disturbing.
This had never actually been a f*neral.
It was the final stage of a plan designed to make a living woman vanish.
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What will Ethan do now—and how far will Richard go to stop him?
Comment “NEXT” for Part 2.
