False Beginning - S01 E06

Story 1 week ago

False Beginning - S01 E06

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 6

Episode 6: False Beginning

Sarah fell back into the chair, feeling like she could not breathe. The air in the office felt very thick and very heavy. It was like she was trying to breathe under water. Her chest was tight. Her heart was beating so hard that she could hear it in her ears. Thump. Thump. Thump. It was a scary sound. She looked down at her hands. They were shaking so much that she could not make them stop. She tried to grab the arms of the chair to stay still. The wood of the chair felt cold and hard against her skin. She felt like the whole room was spinning around her. The walls were moving. The floor was moving. Everything she thought she knew was falling apart like a house made of cards. She was in a nightmare, but she was awake.

The photo in her hand felt like it was burning her fingers. She looked at it one more time. The photo showed Tom looking at the fire with a cold face. It was a picture of the night her parents died. The fire was big and orange and yellow. It was a very bad fire. The red car was inside the fire. But young Tom was standing just a few feet away. He was not running to help. He was not calling for the police. He was just standing there. His face was very calm. He did not look sad. He did not look like he was crying. He looked like he was watching a plan come true. He looked like he had finished a big job and was happy with his work. It was the face of a man who did not have a heart.

Sarah remembered how she met Tom. It was a few weeks after the accident. She was a lonely girl who had lost everything. She had no mommy. She had no daddy. She lived in a big, empty house that felt too quiet. She cried every night until her eyes were sore. She was so small and so alone in the world. Then, one day, Tom appeared. He had appeared like an angel, telling her he would take care of her. He wore a nice suit and had a very kind smile. He told her he was a lawyer. He told her he was a good man who liked to help people. He said he would find out what happened to her family. He said he would find the person who caused the accident.

Sarah had believed every word he said. She was so sad that she needed someone to hold her hand. Tom was that person. He brought her flowers. He brought her books to read. He sat with her and listened to her talk about her parents. He made her feel safe for the first time since the fire. He told her that she did not have to worry about money or the house. He told her he would handle everything. He made her fall in love with him. She thought he was the best man in the world. She thought he was her hero. She thought God had sent him to save her from her sadness. She loved him with all her heart.

Now, she saw the truth. The truth was very dark and very scary. Tom had caused the accident on purpose. He was not a hero. He was the villain of the story. He had hurt her family so he could pretend to be the hero who saved her. He did not love her. He did not care about her feelings. He only cared about what he could get from her. He knew that she was rich. He knew that her parents had a lot of money in the bank. He knew that if they were gone, Sarah would have all that money. And he knew that a lonely girl would be easy to trick. He wanted her to marry him because she was rich and alone.

Every happy memory they had now felt like a lie. Every time they went for a walk in the park, it was a lie. Every time they had dinner together and laughed, it was a lie. Every time he kissed her on the forehead and said he would never leave her, it was a lie. Her whole life was a big, dark lie. She had spent ten years living with a man who had killed her mommy and daddy. She had slept in the same bed as a man who had planned to ruin her life. She had given her love to a person who was only acting a part. She felt dirty. She felt like she wanted to wash her skin until it was red. She felt like she was a character in a book, and the author had changed the story to be very sad.

She looked at her wedding ring. The gold was very bright in the dim light of the office. She used to look at this ring and feel happy. She used to think it meant they would be together forever. Now, the ring looked like a heavy chain. It was a chain that kept her tied to a monster. She wanted to take it off and throw it across the room. She wanted to scream as loud as she could. She wanted to scream until her throat was dry. She wanted to scream for her parents. She wanted to scream for the ten years she had lost. She wanted to scream because she was so angry and so hurt. But she could not make a sound. She was too shocked to even cry.

She realized that the man in the hospital bed was a monster. He was not the kind Tom she knew. He was a man who took things that did not belong to him. He was a man who used people like they were toys. He had watched her parents die and then he had walked into her life with a smile. It was the most evil thing she could think of. She thought about him lying in the hospital right now. He was in a coma. He could not move. He could not speak. Part of her wanted him to never wake up. Part of her wanted him to stay in that deep sleep forever so he could never hurt anyone else. But another part of her wanted him to wake up so she could look him in the eyes and tell him she knew the truth.

The office was very quiet now. The wind had stopped blowing. The rain had stopped hitting the window. It was so quiet that she could hear her own breathing. She sat in the big chair and looked at the black notebook and the blue folder. They were the keys to the truth. She thought about the people in the town. They all thought Tom was a saint. They thought he was a hero who helped the poor. If she told them the truth, would they believe her? Or would they think she was crazy? Tom was very good at lying. He had been lying for twenty years. He was an expert at making people trust him. He was a fixer. He fixed things so that bad people looked good and good people looked bad.

Sarah felt very small in the big office. She felt like she was in a trap. The black car outside, the mean man in the hospital, and the secret papers were all part of a big web. And she was the fly in the middle of the web. She did not know what to do next. She did not know who she could call. She could not call the police because she did not know if Tom had fixed them too. She could not call her friends because she did not know who was real. She felt like she was the only person left in the whole world. She was just as alone as she was after the fire twenty years ago.

She stood up slowly. Her legs were still like jelly. She had to hold onto the desk so she would not fall. She needed to leave this place. She needed to go somewhere and think. She needed to hide the folder and the notebook. She could not let anyone else find them. She picked up the blue folder and tucked it under her arm. She reached for the black notebook. As she touched the leather cover, she felt a cold shiver go through her body. The office felt like it was getting colder and colder. The shadows on the wall looked like they were reaching out for her. She felt like the room wanted to keep her there.

Just then, the office phone rang.

The sound was very loud in the quiet room. Ring! Ring! Ring! Sarah jumped and almost dropped the folder. She looked at the phone on the desk. It was a small, black phone. It was the same phone she had seen Tom use many times. It kept ringing. It was a sharp, angry sound. Sarah did not want to answer it. She was afraid of who might be on the other end. But she felt like she had to. She felt like the phone was calling her name. She reached out her hand. Her fingers were cold. She picked up the phone and put it to her ear. She did not say anything. She just waited.

There was silence for a second. Then, she heard a voice. It was a man's voice. It was deep and it sounded very serious. It was not a voice she knew. It was a voice that sounded like it was used to giving orders. The man on the other end did not know that Sarah was the one on the phone. He thought he was talking to Tom. He did not wait for a hello. He just spoke.

A voice on the other end said, "Is the work done, Tom?"

Sarah felt her heart stop. The room went very dark. Those five words were like five stones hitting her. "Is the work done, Tom?" What work? What was Tom supposed to do? Was he supposed to do something else bad? Was the work about her? Was the accident he had in the car a mistake because the work was not finished? Sarah could not speak. Her mouth was dry. She could not even say a word. She just held the phone and listened to the silence on the other side. The man waited for an answer. He waited for Tom to say yes. He waited for Tom to say that everything was okay.

Sarah slowly put the phone back down. She did not say anything. She just let the phone click back into its place. She stood there, staring at the phone. The question was still hanging in the air. "Is the work done, Tom?" She realized that the secrets were much bigger than just her parents. Tom was part of something huge. He was part of a group of bad people who did bad things. And now, they were calling him to see if he had finished his job. Sarah felt like the floor was opening up under her. She was not just the wife of a killer. she was in the middle of a very big and very dangerous plan.

Who do you think was on the phone asking for Tom? Could it be the man in the dark suit?

What do you think "the work" is that the voice was talking about? Is it something bad for Sarah?

If you were Sarah, would you answer the phone or just run away as fast as you can?

Do you think Sarah can ever trust anyone again after finding out her whole life was a lie?

The story is getting more and more dangerous! Sarah has found the truth, but now she is being chased by a secret. What is "the work"? And who is the voice on the phone? Don't miss the next heart-pounding episode of "False Beginning!"