Chapter 1: The Sound Beneath the Lid
Chapter 1: The Sound Beneath the Lid
The funeral hall stopped breathing.
Ethan Vale stood with one hand pressed against the polished mahogany coffin, his face pale beneath the candlelight.
At first, he thought grief was playing tricks on him.
Then he heard it again.
A soft tap.
Three times.
From inside.
His blood turned cold.
“He’s alive,” Ethan whispered.
The room shifted like a wave. Guests leaned forward. Someone gasped. A woman dropped her prayer book.
Maria Vale, Ethan’s stepmother, stepped between him and the coffin so quickly her black veil nearly slipped from her hair.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she hissed. “Your father is gone.”
Ethan looked at her.
For the first time in years, he didn’t see the elegant woman who had married his father.
He saw fear.
Real fear.
Ethan grabbed the brass handle.
Maria lunged.
“No!”
Her scream broke through the hall like shattered glass.
Two security guards moved toward Ethan, but he was faster. Grief had become rage. Rage had become strength.
He shoved the coffin lid upward.
The candles flickered.
The lid opened.
And the entire funeral hall fell into horrified silence.
Richard Vale lay inside, sweating, trembling, and alive.
Black tape sealed his mouth.
His eyes locked onto Ethan’s.
Not with surprise.
With warning.
Ethan ripped the tape from his father’s mouth.
Richard sucked in air like a man rising from the bottom of the ocean.
Then he grabbed Ethan’s wrist with weak, shaking fingers.
“Don’t trust her,” he rasped.
Every eye turned to Maria.
She had gone completely still.
Then she smiled.
May you like
A small, strange smile.
And said, “You should have stayed dead.”
