Beside him, Natalie Pierce, the family’s live-in nanny, added in a practiced, gentle tone,
“You’re in shock, Laura. Please… let him rest.”
But a mother’s heart doesn’t negotiate with logic.
Laura looked back at the screen.
And then—
The camera slowly turned back to Ethan’s face.
On its own.
As if someone had carefully picked it up and repositioned it.
The operator, Jason Cole, froze with his hand hovering over the control panel. The entire room stopped breathing.
“Open the casket,” Laura whispered, shaking.
“Open it. Now.”
Jason hesitated—then obeyed.
The lid lifted inch by inch… and reality shattered.
Ethan’s fingers twitched.
He let out a weak, broken sound.
His eyes fluttered open—heavy, confused, terrified.
Laura collapsed over the casket, sobbing in disbelief.
“My baby… oh God—he’s alive!”
Mark turned ghost-white.
Natalie stumbled backward as if she’d seen a spirit.
With surprising strength, Ethan grabbed his mother’s arm and whispered, barely audible:
“Don’t go with them… they were going to finish it.”
The words sliced through the room.
Laura looked at Mark.
Then at Natalie.