Chapter V

                                    

                                          

All Noah wanted was to stay home alone. He could barely contain his excitement because he knew he would do something forbidden. 
At exactly 8 o'clock, Lizzie said goodbye and left like she did every evening, leaving him alone in the living room. As soon as the door closed, Noah heard a faint metallic sound that caught his attention for a moment, but he dismissed it immediately as he was too anxious about what he was about to do. A few minutes later, unable to restrain himself, he got up from the couch and looked out the window, making sure the girl was gone. He ran upstairs to his hiding place and retrieved the keys. 
He felt proud of himself. 
Slowly and with a smile on his face, he headed towards his father's room. Little by little, as if with every step memories were unleashed, unpleasant thoughts began to swirl in his head. 
What was he doing? It wasn't something he could be happy about... things could go very wrong from now on, depending on what he found. But... it couldn't be that Alister was hiding things from him, could it? 
He missed Alister. He missed him a lot and he wanted to call him right away, to make sure he wasn't with someone else and that he wouldn't abandon him. 
Clutching his shirt at his chest, he walked hesitantly to his own room. What was he thinking? Alister had always been good to him. He shouldn't doubt... he didn't want to. 
"What are you doing?" The abrupt tone of the voice snapped him out of his thoughts. 
"When did you arrive? I didn't hear you come in..." 
The man gave him a dark, empty look. 
"That's because you wouldn't stop muttering. Did you get the key?" 
"...oh...yes." 
"And what are you waiting for? Don't you want to know what's in there?" 
"To be honest, I'm not so sure anymore..." 
"Why? Don't you think Alister might be hiding something from you?" 
"No... well. What could he possibly hide?" he smiled sadly. "If he's cheating on me and I confront him, maybe he won't come home again... Or maybe he'll kick me out. I don't know what's worse. Maybe it's better not to know what's in there. It might be nothing anyway." 
"I assure you there's something in there that you want to know." 
"Yeah, right! You say that, but you could be lying!" 
"Fine. To make you trust me, I'll tell you something. Alister ordered Lizzie to lock you in the house." 
"That's not true!" he laughed, amused. "Just a day ago, I went out to the city, and the door was open, so..." 
"It was after that. Look, it's very easy to check. You just have to try to leave here." 
Noah looked at him torn between curiosity and guilt. 
"No... Alister wouldn't do something like that. He wouldn't lock me in here like Dad or Andrew did..." 
"You need a push for that too, huh?" 
"What are you talking about?" 
"Noah?" 
His father's voice echoed in his ears forcefully. For a moment, he was paralyzed by fear and shock, but almost immediately he recovered and tried to locate where it was coming from, in vain. 
"Hey, hey! You heard it too, didn't you?" 
"I heard what?" 
"The voice... of my father. Just now..." 
"Don't you understand?" 
Noah stared at him intently, trying to understand what was happening. 
"Look at me," he smiled. 
Noah let out a cry of despair, stepping back against the wall. 
"Dad?" 
"So long without seeing you, Noah." 
"But you... the man who used to take care of me..." 
"You're still as much of an idiot as ever," he sighed. "Anyway, come closer. I need to tell you something..." 
"No!" Noah shouted upon hearing this, turning around to look at him. "Leave me alone! There's no key! I'm just really stupid and can't open it! Don't come near me!" 
The man took a few steps back and started looking at him amused, as Noah grew more desperate and began to cry upon realizing the situation. 
Finally, he collapsed onto the floor, scratching at the door like a trapped animal, causing his fingers to start bleeding. 
"Bastard..." he mumbled in despair.
"I told you." 
"Go to hell! All of you! All of you just die!" he shouted, banging his head violently. 
"I'm already dead, you idiot." 
Noah gasped in surprise, and while holding back tears, he turned to look at him. Without a doubt, it was his father. He was there, and he looked just as he remembered. 
"Why are you here? Just go away..." he muttered weakly. 
"You know why." 
"What do you want me to do? Open the room's door?" 
"Yes. There you will find the evidence." 
"What evidence? It doesn't matter anymore if Alister is deceiving me. I hate him! He locked me up here like an animal, no one really cares about me!" 
"Stop whining. If you search the room, you will find a small box under the floor. You already know what it is. After all, even though you're stupid, you suspected my death." 
"And so what? Why would I want to know anything about that? You ruined my life!" 
"Don't you worry that Alister might do it again? To you?" 
Noah stared at him silently for a few minutes. 
"I-I don't understand..." 
"Yes, you do, you just don't want to admit it. Now do as you please," he said, turning away. 
"Wait... wait! You... before you died, you were going to tell me something..." 
"Don't be foolish. I can't tell you what it was. Imagine whatever you want." 
"Dad..." he sobbed. "I know you weren't my real father, but you cared about me, right? Even just a little..." 
"I suppose so," he smiled. 
"Do you mean that?" 
"If you want to believe so." 
"What do you mean by...?" 
"Noah. Deep down, you know you're hallucinating."