StoryTree
you are here

Nobody Reported the Tide

mystery◐ Mature
6 contributors · 4 paragraphs deep

I walked around the house. Fresh scratches on the back door. New cameras pointing at the driveway. The porch light was burned out but the wiring was new. Someone lives here despite the deed saying it's been empty. I tried the back door. It opened. Inside smelled like salt and chemicals.

Inside I found notebooks. Lists of names. Dates. Medical notes: "Fever day 3, confusion day 5, drowning day 7." Some names had X through them. Others had "LEFT—SAFE." I recognized the handwriting from the insurance claims. Carol had been tracking this for years.

↔ version 1 of 2 of this paragraph — hover its sides to flip. The card below is what happens next.

What happens next?

1 ways forward
Vote share across the top 1 branches
A possible continuation

The last entry in the journal was dated last week: "New case file: Marsh. Detective. Asking questions. Unknown if he'll listen. Updating the list." Below that, a question mark. And a date. Three days from now. I looked at the journal, then at my own hands. I understood what I was."

ED
Elif Demir
12 votes · future 1 of 1