Chapter 1 - MOM
Evelyn Carter woke in darkness.
Not ordinary darkness.
Not a bedroom at midnight.
Not a blackout.
This darkness had weight.
It pressed against her face.
Her shoulder.
Her knees.
Her chest.
She tried to move.
Wood stopped her.
Her breath came faster.
Something soft was beneath her back.
Fabric.
Satin.
Then memory arrived all at once.
Her mother’s funeral.
The mahogany coffin.
Adrian’s hand at the small of her back.
Vanessa standing too close to him.
The bitter taste in the champagne Adrian had insisted she drink before they left the house.
Then nothing.
Evelyn opened her mouth.
No sound came at first.
Her tongue felt thick.
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
She pushed upward.
The lid did not move.
Panic exploded.
She kicked.
Hard.
BANG.
The sound crashed through the enclosed space.
Evelyn screamed.
“HELP!”
Her voice came back at her from inches away.
She struck the lid again.
BANG. BANG.
Outside, something stopped.
A man’s voice.
Adrian.
“Did you hear that?”
Vanessa answered, too close.
“What was that?”
Evelyn went still.
Then understanding hit harder than fear.
They knew she was inside.
She hit the lid again with both hands.
“ADRIAN!”
Silence.
Then wheels began moving.
The coffin rolled.
Evelyn screamed until her throat tore.
Outside, Vanessa’s nervous laugh floated through the wood.
“By morning, this is over.”
Adrian answered coldly.
“No one will question it.”
The coffin tilted slightly.
Heat touched the wood near Evelyn’s feet.
She smelled metal.
Industrial heat.
Then she knew where they were.
The cremation chamber.
Her mother’s cremation.
Except Margaret had been declared dead after a sudden heart attack two days earlier.
No open casket.
No viewing.
Adrian had arranged everything.
Fast.
Too fast.
Evelyn slammed both palms upward.
The lid shifted half an inch.
Vanessa shrieked.
“WHAT WAS THAT?!”
Evelyn pushed again.
A narrow line of red emergency light cut across her face.
She shoved one hand through the gap.
Air.
Her fingers clawed toward freedom.
Outside, Adrian cursed.
“No!”
His weight crashed onto the lid.
It slammed down against her hand.
Evelyn screamed.
“LET ME OUT!”
Adrian pressed harder.
“Hold it!”
Vanessa shouted:
“I’m not touching that!”
The coffin shook.
Evelyn twisted her trapped wrist free.
Then braced both feet against the lower interior and pushed with everything she had.
The lid rose.
Adrian fought it.
For one second, they were locked against each other.
Husband above.
Wife below.
Then Evelyn screamed and drove upward.
The lid flew open.
Adrian stumbled backward.
Vanessa shrieked.
Evelyn rose halfway from the coffin, gasping, hair stuck to her face, lungs burning.
Red emergency lights pulsed across the cremation room.
Behind Adrian, the furnace glowed.
Vanessa stood near the wall, pale with terror.
Adrian stared at Evelyn as if a dead woman had climbed out of the grave.
Maybe to him, she had.
Evelyn tried to climb over the side.
Then something moved beneath her.
She froze.
At first she thought it was the satin shifting.
Then a hand touched her back.
Weak.
Human.
Evelyn stopped breathing.
She slowly turned.
There was another body inside the coffin.
Beneath her.
A woman.
Gray hair.
Pearl earrings.
Pale face.
Her mother.
Margaret.
Evelyn’s entire body went numb.
Margaret’s eyelids trembled.
Then slowly opened.
May you like
Evelyn’s lips shook.
“Mom…?!”
