Embedded Files
Part I
Part I
Scene 1 – The Silence That Spoke
Scene 1 – The Silence That Spoke
Silence.
The kind that doesn’t soothe you. The kind that weighs on your chest until you can’t breathe.
Ethan Carter hated it.
It was storming outside—the kind of coastal Maine storm that made the whole world feel like it was about to wash away. The windows rattled, the wind howled, and the grandfather clock in the corner of their living room ticked like a bomb.
But what chilled Ethan wasn’t the weather.
It was his father.
Michael Carter sat across the oak dining table, his broad shoulders stiff, his storm-gray eyes fixed on something in front of him. He hadn’t said a word. He didn’t need to. His silence screamed louder than thunder.
And then, he did it.
With slow, deliberate hands, he placed an old BRASS COMPASS on the table.
The thing looked ancient. Its brass case was tarnished, its lid scratched, its needle trembling like it was alive. Ethan leaned forward, his pulse racing.
“Dad,” Ethan said, his voice low. “What the hell is this?”
Michael didn’t answer. He just nudged the compass toward him, his fingers brushing the metal like it was sacred.
Scene 2 – The Compass with a Pulse
Scene 2 – The Compass with a Pulse
Ethan picked it up. The metal was cold—unnaturally cold, like it had been waiting in the dark. The lid clicked open, revealing not just a needle but tiny etchings along the rim. Symbols. Letters. Initials Ethan didn’t recognize.
It wasn’t just a compass.
It was a message.
“You’ve carried this… all these years?” Ethan asked.
Michael’s jaw tightened. His silence was unbearable, like a rope pulled tighter and tighter. Finally, he spoke.
“There are things you don’t know, Ethan. Things I should’ve told you long ago.”
Ethan froze. His father was a man of few words, but when he did speak, it was gospel. He never said things like that. Ever.
“What kind of things?” Ethan pressed.
Michael looked at the compass again, his eyes flickering with a grief Ethan had never seen before. “This belonged to your brother.”
Ethan blinked. “My what?”
Scene 3 – The Brother He Never Knew
The storm roared outside, rattling the walls. Ethan’s chest tightened. His father’s words felt like knives.
“My… brother?” he repeated.
Michael nodded once, heavy and reluctant. “His name was Daniel. He was older. Stronger. Wiser. You never knew him because… he never came home.”
Ethan’s blood ran cold.
This was impossible. He had spent his whole life thinking he was an only child.
“You’re lying,” Ethan said, his voice cracking. “You would’ve told me—”
“I should have,” Michael cut in, his voice thick with regret. “But I didn’t. And it’s haunted me every day since.”
Ethan felt the storm inside his father more than the one outside. For the first time in his life, he saw Michael not as an unshakable man, but as someone who had been breaking in silence for decades.
The compass in Ethan’s hand suddenly felt heavier. Almost alive.
Scene 4 – The First Clue
Scene 4 – The First Clue
Michael’s hand trembled as he tapped the compass. “Daniel left something behind. Something hidden. This compass is the only key to it.”
Ethan turned the object over, running his thumb across the initials. D.C.
Daniel Carter.
He swallowed hard. “What exactly are we talking about here? A box? A journal? A—”
“A map,” Michael whispered. His voice was gravel, low and sharp. “A map that leads to the truth about Daniel’s last journey.”
Ethan’s heart pounded. “And where does it lead?”
Michael’s eyes finally met his son’s. For a second, Ethan wished they hadn’t. They were filled with a mix of fear, hope, and something Ethan had never seen before—desperation.
“I don’t know,” Michael admitted. “Because I’ve been too much of a coward to follow it.”
The words hit Ethan harder than the storm. His father—a man who had fought through life with unshakable strength—was admitting weakness.
Scene 5 – Ethan’s Fire
Scene 5 – Ethan’s Fire
Ethan leaned back, gripping the compass. His thoughts were a hurricane.
He had a brother he never knew existed.
A father who had been hiding a truth for decades.
And in his hand, a compass that might unlock everything.
But anger boiled beneath his skin. “You let me grow up thinking I was alone,” he snapped. “You let me think you were just… cold. But you weren’t cold. You were broken.”
Michael flinched, but he didn’t argue. He just looked down, his silence saying everything his words couldn’t.
For Ethan, that silence was the final spark.
He stood, gripping the compass so tightly his knuckles turned white. “Then I’ll do it. I’ll find this map. I’ll find out who Daniel was. And I’ll find out why you’ve been silent all these years.”
The compass needle quivered. Then, right there on the table, it shifted.
Not north. Not anywhere logical.
It pointed toward the storm outside.
Toward the beginning of something Ethan could never walk away from.
Scene 6 – The Cliffhanger
Scene 6 – The Cliffhanger
Ethan’s breath caught. He looked at his father, but Michael wasn’t shocked. He just closed his eyes, as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
“The compass will guide you,” he said softly. “But it won’t just lead you to Daniel’s truth. It will test you. And it will break you if you’re not careful.”
Ethan swallowed hard. He’d never believed in fate, destiny, or any of that nonsense. But tonight, with the storm raging and the compass alive in his palm, he knew one thing for certain:
His father’s silence was no longer a wall.
It was a door.
And that door had just opened.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse