CHAPTER 3 — THE MAN WHO STARTED THE FUNERAL
CHAPTER 3 — THE MAN WHO STARTED THE FUNERAL
Inside the church, everything was waiting.
The coffin was open.
Empty.
But prepared.
Claire stepped inside.
The doors shut behind her.
Click.
Locked.
A man stood at the altar.
Ethan.
He looked at her like he had been expecting her for years.
“You’re late,” he said.
Claire’s voice shook.
“What is this place?!”
Ethan stepped down slowly.
“It’s a correction system.”
“For what?!”
“For you.”
---
He raised a remote.
The screen behind him flickered.
Videos.
Claire talking.
Claire screaming.
Claire saying:
“IF I COME BACK WRONG, STOP ME.”
Claire stepped back.
“I didn’t say that!”
Ethan looked sad.
“You did.”
“And then you died.”
Claire whispered:
“…I died?”
Ethan nodded.
“And the town kept you anyway.”
---
Suddenly the church began shaking.
The system was activating.
A voice echoed:
“FUNERAL COMPLETION REQUIRED.”
Ethan grabbed her wrist.
“If this finishes, you stabilize permanently… as the version they chose.”
Claire struggled.
“What version?!”
Ethan hesitated.
Then said:
“The one that never left the town alive.”
Claire froze.
And for the first time…
May you like
she realized the worst part wasn’t dying.
It was that everyone agreed she already did.
