The message on the basement wall remained in front of them.

THE DEAD SHOULD NOT SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH

Mia stared at the red letters.

Charlie floated backward.

For the first time since she entered Blackwood Mansion…

He wasn’t making jokes.

He wasn’t trying to scare her.

He looked genuinely afraid.

“Charlie?”

Mia turned toward him.

“What happened?”

The ghost looked at the message.

“I don’t know.”

“But whoever wrote that…”

“They know something about me.”

Mia stepped closer.

“About your death?”

Charlie nodded slowly.

“I told you.”

“I don’t remember how I died.”

“But sometimes…”

“I feel like someone wanted me gone.”

---

Mia switched on her flashlight and examined the wall.

The red paint looked old.

Very old.

She touched it carefully.

“It’s not paint.”

Charlie looked confused.

“What is it?”

Mia smelled her fingers.

“Red ink.”

“Someone wrote this message years ago.”

“Not tonight.”

Charlie floated closer.

“Then why did it appear now?”

Mia looked around the basement.

“Maybe it was hidden.”

“Maybe something opened it.”

Suddenly…

A small wooden box fell from a shelf.

CRASH!

Both of them jumped.

Charlie screamed.

Mia looked at him.

“Wait.”

“You’re the ghost.”

“You are supposed to scare me.”

Charlie fixed his hair.

“I know.”

“I just wasn’t prepared.”

---

Inside the wooden box was an old photograph.

Mia picked it up.

The picture showed Blackwood Mansion many years ago.

Standing in front of the house were four people.

An old man.

A woman.

A young Charlie.

And another person whose face had been scratched away.

Charlie touched the photograph.

“I know these people.”

“Who are they?”

“My family.”

Mia pointed at the damaged face.

“And him?”

Charlie shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

“But something about him feels familiar.”

---

Mia placed the photograph on the table.

“Charlie.”

“Your memory loss isn’t normal.”

“I think someone erased your past.”

Charlie laughed nervously.

“Great.”

“Even my memories hate me.”

Mia smiled.

“At least your jokes survived.”

“Very funny.”

“I try.”

---

Suddenly…

A loud noise came from upstairs.

BOOM!

The mansion shook again.

Charlie immediately disappeared.

Mia looked around.

“Charlie?”

No answer.

Then his voice came from inside a cupboard.

“I’m hiding.”

Mia opened the cupboard door.

Charlie was sitting inside.

“You are a ghost.”

“You can disappear.”

“Yes.”

“But hiding feels more dramatic.”

Mia shook her head.

“I can’t believe I am working with you.”

Charlie floated out.

“Neither can I.”

---

They moved upstairs.

The sound came from the old library.

The door slowly opened.

Inside…

Books were floating in the air.

Pages were turning by themselves.

Mia looked amazed.

“Now this is more like a haunted house.”

Charlie looked proud.

“Finally.”

“A proper ghost moment.”

He waved his hands.

The books flew around the room.

Mia smiled.

“Did you do that?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“You’re improving.”

Charlie looked happy.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“You are now only 50 percent embarrassing.”

---

While Charlie was celebrating…

Mia noticed something strange.

One book on the shelf was glowing faintly.

She pulled it out.

Behind it was a hidden space.

Inside was an old diary.

The cover had one name written on it.

CHARLES BLACKWOOD

Charlie became silent.

“That’s my name.”

Mia opened the diary.

The first page contained a shocking sentence.

If you are reading this, then I am already dead.

Charlie stepped closer.

“That’s my handwriting.”

Mia looked at him.

“You wrote this before you died.”

She turned the page.

The diary continued.

The person I trusted most betrayed me.

The secret beneath Blackwood Mansion must never be found.

If anyone discovers the truth, they will return.

A cold wind passed through the library.

The candles went out.

A whisper came from the darkness.

“Charlie…”

The ghost froze.

Mia grabbed his arm.

“Did you hear that?”

Charlie nodded.

“Yes.”

The voice came again.

“You forgot me.”

“You forgot what you did.”

Charlie looked terrified.

“I don’t know that voice.”

The library door suddenly slammed shut.

The books fell to the floor.

Then a figure appeared behind the glass window.

A tall shadow.

Watching them.

Mia ran toward the window.

But when she opened it…

Nobody was there.

Only a strange symbol was left on the glass.

A circle with a line through it.

Charlie stared at it.

“I remember that symbol.”

Mia looked at him.

“Who uses it?”

Charlie whispered.

“The person who killed me.”

---

The next morning…

Mia and Charlie searched the mansion for answers.

They found old newspapers hidden inside the library.

One headline caught Mia’s attention.

LOCAL BUSINESSMAN CHARLES BLACKWOOD DIES IN MYSTERIOUS FIRE

She read the article.

“Twenty years ago…”

“You died in this mansion.”

Charlie looked confused.

“Twenty years?”

“That’s impossible.”

Mia looked at him.

“What do you mean?”

Charlie slowly stepped backward.

“I have been here for one hundred years.”

Mia froze.

“What?”

Charlie pointed at the newspaper.

“I remember the mansion being old.”

“I remember everyone leaving.”

“But…”

He looked at the date again.

“I died only twenty years ago.”

The room became silent.

Mia slowly closed the newspaper.

A terrifying thought entered her mind.

Charlie wasn’t a ghost who forgot his death.

Someone had made him forget.

And if someone could hide twenty years from a ghost…

They could hide anything.

Suddenly, the basement door opened by itself.

A new message appeared on the floor.

YOU ARE GETTING CLOSER

Charlie looked at Mia.

For the first time…

They both understood.

The ghost story was only the beginning.

The real horror was the mystery behind Charlie’s death.

End of Chapter 2.