Chapter 8 - The Recording
The door opened.
No one stood there.
Only an old portable recorder sat on the floor.
Graves approached cautiously.
He picked it up.
The device turned on automatically.
Static filled the room.
Then a child's voice emerged.
Claire's voice.
Seven years old.
“If you're hearing this, they found the house.”
Claire couldn't breathe.
The recording continued.
“Mom said I have to forget.”
Patricia covered her mouth.
The child continued.
“She said forgetting is the only way I can live.”
Claire looked at Patricia.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Patricia couldn't answer.
The recording continued.
“Daddy says the people with the black symbol are bad.”
Richard's face tightened.
“But Mom says that's not true.”
Claire stared at him.
The child spoke again.
“One of them saved Nora.”
The recording stopped.
Claire pressed play again.
Nothing.
Graves inspected the device.
“There is another file.”
He played it.
A man's voice appeared.
Richard's voice.
Recorded nineteen years earlier.
“If Claire remembers the symbol, bring her to me.”
Claire looked at her father.
“What did you mean?”
Richard's eyes filled with tears.
“I thought you were Nora.”
Claire froze.
“What?”
Richard nodded.
“After the operation, we found you near the facility.”
He took a breath.
“You were holding Nora's necklace.”
Claire reached into her pocket instinctively.
She had worn the necklace since childhood.
A tiny silver pendant.
She had never known where it came from.
Patricia stared at it.
“That necklace belonged to Nora.”
Claire slowly removed it.
Graves looked at the pendant.
There was a tiny engraving on the back.
Six letters.
NORA.
Claire's hands trembled.
“Then why was I holding it?”
Richard whispered:
“Because Nora gave it to you.”
“Where was she?”
“We don't know.”
The recording suddenly resumed.
A new voice appeared.
A man's voice.
Older.
Calm.
Familiar.
“Claire.”
Everyone froze.
The voice continued.
“If you've found the necklace, then you have already found the house.”
Claire stared at the recorder.
The man laughed softly.
“You were always better at remembering than they thought.”
Graves's expression hardened.
He knew the voice.
Claire noticed.
“Who is that?”
Graves didn't answer.
The voice continued.
“Your mother will tell you she saved you.”
A pause.
“She did.”
Another pause.
“But she won't tell you why.”
The recording ended.
Claire looked at Patricia.
“Why?”
Patricia was crying.
“Because I made a promise.”
“To whom?”
May you like
Patricia looked toward the basement wall.
“To Nora.”
