Michael stumbled, taking a few steps back. The photograph on the tombstone showed his own face—slightly younger, but unmistakable. The same slightly crooked nose, the same piercing eyes, even the scar above his right eyebrow. Beneath the photo, the name read: “Thomas Walker, 1975–2018.”
Thomas—the name of his father, whom he had never known. His mother had told him he died before he was born. But the year of death was recent—only six years ago.
With trembling hands, Michael pulled out his phone and checked the recording again. The shadowy figure was still there, motionless. He zoomed in, and his breath caught. The figure wore old, tattered clothes, but the face… the face was identical to his own.
Suddenly, his phone vibrated in his hand. A message from an unknown number:
“My son, I’ve been trying to find you for years. Your mother lied to me, said you died at birth. Now that you’re here, we have much to talk about. Meet me in the old chapel at sunrise.”
Michael looked toward the dark horizon. Only two hours remained until sunrise. His heart pounded in his chest.
Was his father alive?
With hesitant steps, he made his way toward the old chapel at the edge of the cemetery. There, between the world of the living and the dead, he would wait—
To uncover a truth that maybe should have stayed buried.
Michael stepped into the chapel. The man was already there — sitting on a bench, hands clasped, waiting. No ghosts. No tricks.
Just a man with tired eyes… and the same scar above his right eyebrow.
“You really came,” the man said, voice hoarse.
Michael didn’t sit. “Who are you?”
The man pulled out a folder and slid it across. Inside were copies of hospital records, a birth certificate with Michael’s real name — Thomas Walker Jr., and a paternity test confirming the truth.
“I’m your father. Your mother told me you died at birth. She disappeared after that. I didn’t know the truth until a few years ago.”
Michael clenched his jaw. “So you faked your death? Buried someone else under your name?”
“I had reasons,” he replied. “Debt. Enemies. I ran, thinking I had no one left. But when I found your name in a cemetery staff list last month… I had to be sure.”
Michael’s mind raced. The figure on camera. The grave with his father’s name. The photo that looked just like him.
Everything was real.
“What do you want from me?” he asked.
The man looked up, eyes watering. “Nothing. Just to know you lived.”
A long silence. Then Michael sat down.
And they talked — for the first time in thirty years.
As the sun rose behind the old stained-glass windows, it didn’t bring peace. It brought the truth — heavy, raw, undeniable.
Later that morning, Michael quit his job. He didn’t want to guard the dead anymore.
He had a life to reclaim.