The door creaked open, breaking the thick silence in the room.
Kai walked in, slightly out of breath, a pen drive swinging between his fingers as he had just completed some heroic mission.
“Told you… five minutes,” he said, dropping into the chair.
But Lucas didn’t even look at him.
His eyes were already fixed on the laptop.
“Plug it in.”
There was something in his voice—sharp, focused, different.
Kai didn’t joke this time.
He quietly inserted the pen drive.
The laptop hummed softly, and within seconds, a folder appeared on the screen.
CCTV_Backyard_Archive
Lucas opened it instantly.
A list of video files appeared, each labelled with date and time.
His fingers paused for a second… then clicked:
[3 Days Before Accident | 11:47 PM]
The footage started.
Grainy.
Black and white.
Rain is hitting the lens.
Trees are bending violently in the storm.
Visibility was horrible—just like the police report described.
Kai leaned back slightly.
“Looks normal to me. Just bad weather—”
“Wait,” Lucas said quietly.
Something had caught his eye.
“Pause it.”
Kai pressed the spacebar.
Lucas leaned forward, his face inches away from the screen.
He pointed toward the far edge of the frame.
“There… do you see that?”
Kai squinted.
“I see… pixels?”
“Zoom in.”
Kai tried, adjusting the zoom controls awkwardly.
“Bro, I’m not some hacker, okay? I barely know how to edit photos—”
“Just zoom,” Lucas said, more focused than impatient.
Pixel by pixel, the image enlarged.
It got blurrier… but the shape became clearer.
A figure.
Standing near the car.
Completely still.
Even in that storm.
Kai straightened.
“Okay… that’s not normal.”
Lucas didn’t respond.
His eyes narrowed.
“Play it.”
The video continued.
The figure moved.
Slowly.
Calmly.
Not someone scared of the storm.
Someone who belonged there.
Lucas quickly paused again—this time exactly when lightning flashed across the screen.
The frame lit up for a split second.
“Perfect,” Lucas whispered.
He grabbed his phone and clicked a few quick pictures of the screen.
Kai blinked.
“You’re taking screenshots from your phone?”
“Always keep copies.”
He zoomed in further on the frozen frame, adjusting brightness and contrast rapidly.
His fingers moved with precision—fast, controlled, almost like he had done this a hundred times before.
Kai watched him, half impressed, half confused.
“Man… you’re scary smart.”
Lucas ignored that.
“Zoom more… here… no—wait—”
He adjusted the frame again.
“Stop.”
The image was now heavily pixelated… but something new appeared.
Lucas leaned even closer.
“The wrist…”
Kai frowned.
“What about it?”
Lucas didn’t answer.
He zoomed further—carefully, patiently, reconstructing the image as much as possible.
And then—
There it was.
Faint.
Blurred.
But visible.
A mark.
A tattoo.
Kai’s voice dropped.
“…is that real?
Lucas quickly took multiple photos from his phone again, then grabbed a notebook lying beside him and began sketching the shape as accurately as he could.
“It’s not random,” Lucas said, his voice low but steady.
“This is a symbol.”
Kai leaned in.
“Can you recognise it?”
Lucas shook his head slightly.
“Not clearly… but listen—”
He finally looked at Kai.
“Whoever this is… they knew exactly what they were doing.”
Kai crossed his arms.
“Meaning?”
Lucas pointed back at the screen.
“They came during a storm.
When visibility is low.
They stood exactly in the blind spot of the camera.
And when they moved…” he scrubbed the video slightly, “…the camera glitches for a few seconds.”
Kai’s expression changed.
“Yeah… I noticed that.”
“That’s not a coincidence,” Lucas said firmly.
“That’s control.”
Silence.
Heavy.
Kai again grabbed the report from the table about police CCTV checking and details.
He then frowned as he scanned the report again, then tapped the page with his finger.
“Look at this properly, Lucas… read it carefully. It literally says they didn’t find anything suspicious in the CCTV footage.”
Lucas leaned in, eyes narrowing.”…Yeah.
You’re right.
It says nothing was wrong.”
Kai scoffed softly.”So, what are you trying to say?
Are the police blind?
Lucas shook his head, frustration creeping into his voice.”That’s exactly the problem, Kai.
They’re saying nothing was wrong.
But we just saw something.”
Kai ran a hand through his hair, clearly irritated but also confused.”Man, this doesn’t make sense.
It’s not possible.
Then Lucas added quietly,
“This could be someone we know… or someone who knows this house very well. Someone who understands how everything works—cameras, timing, blind spots… everything.”
Kai exhaled slowly.
“So… not random.”
“Not even close.”
Behind them, unseen—
Lily and Meena stood frozen.
Their expressions had changed from curiosity to shock… and now to something deeper—fear mixed with confusion.
Meena looked at the screen, her voice trembling though unheard.
“Who could do something like this…?”
Lily’s eyes were fixed on the tattoo sketch Lucas had made.
“This isn’t just an accident anymore…”
Back in the room—
Kai rubbed the back of his neck.
“Okay, I’ll be honest… I’m trying to keep up, but this tech stuff? Not really my thing.”
Lucas almost smiled faintly.
“I know. That’s why I’m doing this.”
Kai looked at him.
“You’re seriously built differently.”
Lucas didn’t reply.
His attention was already back on the screen, replaying the footage again and again, analysing every frame, every glitch, every shadow.
Because to him—
This wasn’t just a video.
It was evidence.
A puzzle.
And he was going to solve it.
After a long silence, Kai finally spoke again.
“So… what now?”
Lucas slowly closed the laptop halfway, his fingers still resting on the edge.
For a moment, he didn’t say anything.
Then—
A small, confident smile appeared on his face.
“I know what to do.”
Behind them—
Lily and Meena looked at each other.
Something in Lucas’s voice… that certainty… it reached them too.
Lily nodded slightly.
Meena took a breath.
And almost instinctively—
They both whispered,
“Let’s do it.”
At the same moment—
Kai leaned forward.
“Let’s do it.”
Lucas looked up, determination in his eyes.
“Let’s do it.”
Four voices.
Two worlds.
One decision.
And none of them knew—
This was the step that would pull them deeper…
Into something far more dangerous than they had imagined.
To Be Continued:
Now what is going to happen ?