Chapter 20 - The Unopened Letter|
My hands shook so violently I could barely pick the journal back up off the floor.
Natalie was staring at me, her face completely bloodless as she read the terrifying entry over my shoulder.
“She killed my mother...” Natalie whispered, her voice barely audible over the soft hum of the attic ventilation fan. “She murdered her...”
Before I could process the sickening horror of the revelation, my eyes caught sight of something else lying at the very bottom of the brass trunk.
It was a thick, pristine white envelope, completely unsealed, postmarked from a private medical facility in Switzerland—dated just three weeks ago.
I reached down and pulled the letter out of the box.
The letterhead bore the official emblem of an international private psychiatric hospital.
I unfolded the thick parchment paper and read the typed words:
Dear Mrs. Vance,
We are writing to confirm that the secondary patient under your long-term private sponsorship—Subject #8402—remains in stable condition at our Zurich facility.
Per your strict instructions established in 1997, the patient has been kept under continuous, mild sedation and has been repeatedly informed that her children, Natalie and Daniel, passed away shortly after her reported 'death' twenty-eight years ago.
However, due to recent administrative audits, we require your updated digital authorization to continue maintaining the patient's off-record status.
Please contact our international director immediately regarding Sarah Miller.
The world stopped spinning.
The paper fluttered in my hands as the cold autumn wind rattled the attic window frame behind us.
Downstairs, the front door clicked open.
My father’s cheerful voice echoed up through the floorboards:
“Daniel! Natalie! We’re back from our walk! Oliver fell fast asleep!”
I looked down at the letter in my trembling hands, then looked up into my sister’s wide, terrified eyes.
May you like
Sarah Miller wasn't dead.
And she was waiting for us.
