Henry ransacked through one of the boxes in the cellar, searching for more pictures of his late wife. Freddrick had suddenly insisted that he wanted to see more pictures of his birth mother, but he refused to say why.
After digging around for almost ten minutes, Henry finally found the envelope he was searching for. He pulled it out and took it to the living room where Fredrick and Louisa were seated.
"Here… I think that is all that's left of her pictures. You've seen every other one already."
"But, how is it that she doesn't have a social media account that I can refer to?" Fredrick queried. He had tried looking up his mother online, but there was no trace of her anywhere; Facebook, Instagram, twitter... everywhere.
"She did." James replied, sitting down beside Louisa.
"So, why can't I find her?"
"All her accounts got deleted."
"Why would you do that dad?"
"I didn't say I deleted them, Fred. I said they got deleted."
"Then who? Why? And how did they gain access to her social media?"
"That, I do not know. But my best bet is that the barbarians who killed her must have done it. They literally wiped out all traces of her. It was like she never even existed."
Fredrick was too stunned for words. He took the couch opposite his parents and began to sieve through the pictures in his hand. He studied them intently, shaking his head as he went from one picture to the next.
"Dad, how long ago were these pictures taken?"
"Just before and after you were born. Most of those pictures were taken within a space of… six, maybe eight months."
"But how is that possible?" Fredrick mouthed, his voice barely above a whisper.
"How is what possible?" Louisa asked. She had been studying his face while he went through the pictures, and she could tell that something was not right.
"Uh… um, its nothing, mum." Fredrick lied, and stood up to leave, but Louisa stopped him.
"Are you going to keep pretending there's nothing wrong?" She pressed, her features hardening.
"What do you mean, mum? Everything is fine. I just…"
"What happened at your fashion show? You've been on edge since after the show. Right now, you look like you've just seen a ghost, plus, I noticed you said 'mum' on stage, like you were referring to someone. But, you were not looking in my direction, so I know it was definitely not me. Isn't that why you've been so obsessed with getting those pictures?"
"Honey, what are you talking about?" Henry asked surprised. He turned to Fredrick, "What is your mother referring to?"
"I… I didn't want to worry you guys." Fredrick stuttered, trying to decide how much he should tell them.
"Didn't want to worry us? What's been going on, young man? And honey, why didn't you say anything right away?"
"I was not sure about what I heard. And, I thought if anything was amiss, he would be wise enough to let us know. With all that has been happening, I didn't expect that he would try to keep things from us. But seeing as he reacted to those photos, I can confirm he's definitely hiding something." Louisa frowned.
"So, are you going to tell us what is going on, or do I have to force it out of you?"
"I think I saw mum." Fredrick blurted out.
"What nonsense are you yapping about?" Henry growled.
"I am not joking, dad. And that is not even the crazy part." Fredrick was still trying to make sense of what he saw. But some part of his brain had already given up on making sense of anything. Nothing about his life was normal anymore; not since his father suddenly announced that he was getting married to Stacey Brown.
"What could be more ludicrous than claiming that you saw your mother who died over thirty years ago? Are you listening to yourself?"
"Honey, let's be calm and listen to him please." Louisa intervened, trying to calm her husband. "Freddie, please, go ahead."
Fredrick looked between his parents, and swallowed hard before slowly letting the next words roll off his tongue. "She looks exactly the same as in the pictures… She hasn't aged one bit."
"What?!" Louisa and Henry chorused.
"I don't understand. Are you sure of what you saw?" Louisa asked, getting up and moving over to Fredrick.
"Yes, mum. I am one hundred percent certain that this is the face I saw."
"Do you have any proof? The footages from event maybe?"
"That's another crazy thing. You see, I stayed back after the event to look through the footages myself before anyone could mess with it… like what happened with Carina and the tattooed man. But what I saw made no sense. The clothes and accessories and hair were all the same, but the face was different."
Henry looked at him with furrowed brows, not saying anything.
"Dad, I swear, I saw her. But I knew you wouldn't believe me. That is why I'm trying to investigate on my own."
"Honey, let's just breathe. We still haven't been able to locate Carina, or even confirm that she actually exists. It might have just been a figment of your imagination. And about seeing your mother, that's impossible… She's been long buried…"
"It was real, mum! I saw them again; Carina and the tattooed man. They sent me a message, and I met with them in some abandoned cathedral in the outskirts of town and…"
"You did what?! Are you put of your mind?" Henry bellowed, vibrating with that was loud enough for even the deaf to hear.
"I had to! Not being certain if what I saw was real or not was making me loose my mind. And then they asked me to come alone if I wanted to get any answers."
"Okay. What I am hearing right now is that you were both crazy and foolish enough to go and meet those nutjobs on your own, not minding that they could have just killed you and thrown you into some ravine. But, let's move away from that a little bit. How does that have anything to do with your late mother coming back to life? I took her body to the hospital myself and she was confirmed dead." Henry's voice turned pensive. "I watched her being put in the ground, and threw dirt on that casket. So, why would you think that you saw her?"
"I am not doubting that she is dead and buried, dad. But, Carina said…"
"Oh, it's the Carina lady again, I see!"
"Carina said…" Fredrick continued, not minding his father's interruption. "…that they were going to send me a gift, an August visitor. I just thought that she meant that some other weirdo from her tribe was going to come see me. I never imagined she meant those words literally."
"Hold on… you lost me there… tribe?"
Fredrick took a deep breath. "Yes, mum… tribe. There's a whole lot I cannot go into right now, but bottom line is, these people are real, and I have seen them, spoken to them, so I don't think I would be the crazy one to not believe that the person I saw in my event was an exact replica of my mother."
"A replica?" Henry asked, his voice a lot calmer.
"Yes, dad… a replica. Of course my birth mother is dead. I don't think anyone has the power to bring her back to life, looking the exact same way she did about three decades ago. However, they could have found someone that looks exactly like her, or made someone look like her just to shake me up."
"Why are they trying to shake you up? And do you know why they are after Stacey?"
"I don't know why they are after her, but they are not joking around. There's a lot more I have to tell you guys, but I'm thinking it would be best if the Browns were here as well." Fredrick let out a breath. He was done playing by Carina's rules. At least he was sure of one thing – for some reason, they could not hurt him. And if they could not hurt him, then he would be the shield to protect Stacey. No one was going to reach Stacey without first going through him.
"That's a brilliant suggestion." Louisa concurred. I'll call Susan right away and inform her." She got up and moved away to make the call.
"Fredrick, no more secrets please." His father said, visibly worried. There were worry lines etched across his forehead.
Fredrick nodded, a pang of guilt hitting him. He knew his father might sound all tough, and get mad and all that, but he also knew that Henry would give up on life if anything ever happened to him. "I'm sorry, dad. No more secrets from now on."
"I have reached out to them. They will be here later in the evening."
Fredrick nodded, "Good."