Chapter 1: The Man Who Returned
Chapter 1: The Man Who Returned
Victor’s breath caught.
“You left… then came back… but not really… you don’t remember…”
The words echoed inside his mind.
“What are you talking about, Eli?” Victor asked.
The boy's eyes darted toward the doorway.
As if expecting someone to appear.
As if fearing someone already had.
“After the accident,” Eli whispered.
Victor frowned.
“What accident?”
“The bridge.”
A chill raced through Victor.
Three months earlier, he had survived a devastating bridge collapse during a business trip. Doctors called it a miracle. He had been trapped underwater for nearly twenty minutes before rescuers pulled him out.
But there was something strange.
Victor remembered entering the bridge.
He remembered waking up in a hospital.
Everything in between was darkness.
Nothing.
A blank void.
“You disappeared,” Eli continued.
“For three days.”
Victor's face tightened.
Everyone had told him that.
He had assumed he was unconscious.
“Then you came home.”
“Yes,” Victor said.
“But Mom cried when she saw you.”
Victor froze.
“What?”
Eli's voice trembled.
“She said you sounded different.”
May you like
The room grew colder.
“And sometimes,” Eli whispered, “you knew things before they happened.”
