They Faked her Death For Months, When I Truly Died, They Went Mad Chapter 07
Oren’s face lost all color.Â
“She was telling the truth.”Â
Selene stepped forward, her eyes red. “Maybe she just saw theÂ
news early and wanted to scare you. She’s done it before-Â
Cael shoved her hard.Â
“Shut up!”Â
It was the first time he hadn’t defended Selene.Â
They grabbed no jackets, nothing at all, and drove straightÂ
for Ravenwater Bridge.Â
The rain was still pouring. Rescue lights lit up the churningÂ
river, and divers kept hauling out luggage, seat fragments,Â
and passengers‘ belongings.Â
Mistral flashed his patrol badge and demanded to search theÂ
water himself. Oren kept asking healers for survival odds onÂ
the missing. Wilder stood by the railing, calling my number over and over.Â
No one ever answered.Â
Near dawn, the rescue team recovered a shattered phone near the broken window,Â
When the device was restored, the last call recording played out loud.Â
My voice cut through the screams and shattering glass.Â
“What if I really die?”Â
Then came Oren’s cold answer.Â
Then I hope you follow through this time.”Â
No one on the riverbank said a word.Â
Oren’s wolf broke loose and drove him to his knees in theÂ
mud. He gripped the phone so hard it seemed he’d finallyÂ
realized the wish he’d spoken aloud had come true.Â
The search lasted seven days.Â
They never found my body. Only the torn seatbelt, the emptyÂ
potion bottle, and the exchange documents ruined by the river.Â
Under Evershade Pack’s accident regulations, I was declared presumed dead.Â
Investigators quickly found that the avalanche four monthsÂ
ago had been a hoax too. Club members had faked theÂ
records for gift cards, while the Ashborne family and threeÂ
patrol and medical associates had known the truth andÂ
watched me hurt myself after a fake funeral.Â
Every pack in the south erupted,Â
The people who’d laughed at me started deleting group chats.Â
Those who’d attended the fake memorial scrambled toÂ
distance themselves. But the backups were already with theÂ
council of elders, and nobody could scrub it clean.Â
My real funeral still had no body.Â
In the center of the hall stood an empty coffin, exactly likeÂ
the three empty ash boxes four months ago.Â
Mom cried at the coffin until she couldn’t shift. Dad looked aÂ
decade older overnight. Cael knelt on the floor holding myÂ
memorial photo, repeating that he’d only wanted to makeÂ
Selene happy, that he’d never actually wanted his sister dead.Â
No one answered him.Â
Selene walked in wearing a black dress and asked throughÂ
tears, “Don’t any of you care about me anymore? I lostÂ
Rhoslyn too. I’m grieving too.”Â
Oren looked up at her, his eyes hollow.Â
“Get out.”Â
Wilder didn’t wipe her tears.Â
Mistral even released his wolf pressure and drove her back to the door.Â
“If you hadn’t wanted them to stay with you, Rhoslyn wouldÂ
never have gone onto that bridge.”Â
But you all chose it!” Selene screamed. “I didn’t fake the deaths alone!”Â
That sentence was the last knife, cutting through whateverÂ
friendship they’d had left.Â
Oren blamed Mistral for not believing the rescue call. MistralÂ
demanded to know why Oren had said the words that toldÂ
her to die. Wilder swung a fist at Cael, demanding to knowÂ
why he’d bribed the whole mountaineering club.Â
They fought from the hall into the rain and were never seen together again.Â
The day after the funeral, Selene disappeared.Â
She took nothing, not her luggage, not her devices orÂ
passport. As if she’d never really existed at all.Â
