Chapter 13: The Most Annoying Truth Ever

I stared at the note. Three words. That was all. *You missed something.* After everything I had been through, the locked door, the cryptic notebook, the memory device that hummed with the whispers of the past, the secret messages, the revelation that my dad’s mentor had created the whole mess, and the chilling final message from beyond the grave that warned of other secrets, another mystery appeared. I wanted one normal day. Just one. A day where Michel didn’t annoy me, where Mom didn’t fuss, where Dad didn’t launch into a lecture, where no one whispered and looked at me with concerned eyes. A day where my life was just… mine. But apparently, that was asking too much. It was as impossible as Michel admitting he actually liked my jokes.

I held the small, folded piece of paper, the same cheap kind that seemed to proliferate in our house like dust bunnies. It felt lighter than it should, as if the very air around it was charged with unspoken questions. I looked at my family. Dad, his brow furrowed in that familiar way that meant he was trying to apply logic to something utterly illogical. Mom, her hands clasped tightly, her eyes wide with a mixture of resignation and dread. And Michel, who, for once, wasn’t smirking or trying to trip me. He just looked… serious. That was a rare and unsettling sight.

“What do you think it means?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. It felt swallowed by the sudden, thick silence that had descended upon the living room. Breakfast was long over, the dishes cleared, but the air still hung heavy with the lingering scent of toast and unspoken anxieties.