Cobi woke to knocking. Three sharp raps that echoed through his skull like hammer blows. When he opened the door, morning light spilled in, pulling color into a world that no longer felt real. Two officers stood there — Meeks again, and a younger woman with sharp eyes who scanned him up and down before speaking.
"Cobi Rivers?"
He nodded.
"I'm Detective Halpern. We need to ask a few more questions about last night."
Cobi stepped aside automatically. The house already smelled stale from the uneaten food on the counter, the lingering scent of lilies set out by neighbors. Halpern sat while Meeks lingered by the kitchen, watching him like he might bolt at any moment.
"Your grandmother's death," Halpern began, flipping open a notebook. "You said you found her after returning from your football game?"
"Yes."
"No signs of struggle. And your brother's missing."
Cobi just stared, jaw tight.
"Neighbors said they saw you heading back out late," she said next. "Around ten."
His breath caught. "That's not true."
Halpern's pen didn't stop moving. "You're sure?"
"I…I couldn't sleep. I took a walk. That's all."
Meeks finally spoke. "Cobi, the woods were searched. Your footprints were there again. Near the clearing."
Cobi's knuckles whitened around the chair's edge. "I told you — I was looking for Jace."
"Right," Meeks said quietly, expression unreadable. "Looking for a boy no one else saw go in."
The voice murmured inside him, low and deliberate.
"They'll never believe you. They never do."
Cobi's head jerked slightly, eyes darting. The detectives noticed.
"You okay, son?" Meeks asked carefully.
He nodded too fast. "Just tired."
They left after an hour, leaving behind the weight of their suspicion. The silence thickened again, but this time it felt like a second presence pressing against the walls. Cobi stood in the living room, staring at the blank TV screen until his reflection blinked back — except it wasn't blinking in sync.
His pulse jumped.
The reflection's lips moved first.
"You can't trust them."
He stumbled backward, heart slamming in his chest. "Stop."
"They'll blame you for what she did. For what I did."
"Who are you?" he whispered.
"You know. You just don't remember yet."
The reflection grinned, then melted away as the screen went dark.
That night, he dreamed of his grandmother. Her face was calm, her eyes open and luminous. She stood in the forest, light dripping from her fingertips like fireflies.
"Cobi," she said gently, voice echoing from everywhere. "There are truths you can't carry yet. The plants don't choose out of kindness."
He tried to approach, but the ground beneath him bubbled like boiling tar. Her hand reached toward him—but Jace appeared between them, eyes empty, vines coiling from his arms.
"You left me," his brother whispered. "You always do."
Cobi screamed and jolted awake, breath ragged. For a second, he could still see something glittering on his arm — silver veins pulsing faintly before fading into his skin.
He stumbled to the mirror again, desperate to find something real. But the face staring back felt like a stranger's — older, harder, eyes filled with pity and warning. His own voice, years beyond his, whispered from the glass.
"You're close, but you have to survive them first."
Outside, a police cruiser idled for the second night in a row. Inside, Cobi sat in the dark, the whisper still coiling through his thoughts.
He wasn't sure anymore if he was being haunted…
or if he was starting to become the ghost himself.
Would you like the next chapter to follow the tension breaking—Cobi being taken in for questioning and the supernatural beginning to manifest publicly—or keep building internally, with his reality further crumbling before that happens?