Is He Dead? [Complete/Editing]

Chapter 6-Documents Don't Lie

Solely investigating his house isn't enough to find out the truth, Jennifer must collect information from Ryan too. For that, she has to accept that he is dead and talk to him with that reference.

Jennifer sits beside him in the drawing room waiting for him to get done with violin playing. There is always a dark and grieving tone in whatever he plays. He might have lost his mind but he still has the memories. Something terrible has happened to him in the past. And he hasn't recovered the tragedy.
"How did you die?", Jennifer asks him when he stops the music. Asking the very question gives goosebumps to her.

Ryan stares blankly at the door and after a quite while he answers, "My wife Angelina. I loved her so much. But when I found out that she was cheating on me with someone else, I couldn't bear it. I shooted my love and the reason I was living, right infront of my eyes and then killed myself. It's since then that my soul is wandering in this house", he said in monotone, stare continous on the door. Surprisingly, he doesn't seem to feel anything in his statement. Having heart broken could have been the reason for his mindlessness but that still doesn't describe the mysterious person. He might have tried to kill his wife or himself too and might have survived. But how no one filed a case against him? What if his wife also survived? She might have left him going insane here. And maybe she herself sends the mysterious person to keep him insane. But how come no one else feels his absence in the outside world?

The fits he gets of killing someone time to time relates perfectly with the story he is telling. But if he and his wife had no one to care about in the world, their dead bodies must had to be laying on the floor untill their decay which doesn't seem to be the case in here.
He stands up from his chair and place the violin against the wall. His blank stare turns to Jennifer while he ask again, "Are you not scared of me?", in the same monotone. Jennifer sighs deeply and doesn't know what to reply. She is scared but not of him. She has to find out his background connections with the world. She goes to his bedroom again to find paper work which is not present anywhere else in the house. None of the drawers or cupboards contains any documents. It's like they all have been removed intentionally. She checks beneath the bed and finds a black box there. The sun is setting and it's getting darker. She left Ryan sitting in the couch staring at the main door which he opens when the sun sets. And after that, he goes to his kitchen to eat something before going to bed. Jennifer has to move fast before he comes back to his room. She sits on the cold floor beside bed and opens the box. The documents she was looking for are present in that box.
The first page is a list of heirlooms of Arthur Tresler, a well known wealthy man in the city who had died two years ago. According to Jennifer's personal knowledge about the Tresler, all of his properties were given to his remaining family members which no one knew who they were. Arthur's wife also died in the same car accident that he did and his fame faded soon after that, because no one replaced his position under his name in the business. The list is too long for as how much she knew about him. She puts the list aside and takes out the next paper which is a property deed of ownership of a company from Arthur to his son Ryan as his heir. No doubt Ryan belonged to a rich and royal family. The next paper is another company given to him in heritage. The next paper is a death certificate of his father Arthur, the original document. A picture of Arthur is also pinned on top of it which she recognizes is him because she had seen him on the news too much. The next page is another death certificate of Arthur's wife and also with the pinned picture of her. The next paper is a marriage certificate of Ryan and Angelina. And then the property paper of the house she is sitting in. It's owner is Angelina and not Ryan. The next page is again a death certificate of Angelina with her picture pinned. Jennifer was expecting her to be alive but it was true that Ryan had killed his wife. It breaks her heart and also confuses her about the mysterious person once again.

She turns to the next page and stops breathing when she sees the next page is a death certificate of Ryan with his pinned picture. Beads of sweat starts to form on her forehead and her hands tremble holding the paper. Her eyes bulges out and she feels her hands getting colder.

"Are you not scared of me?" Jennifer gasps at his voice behind her. Shivers spread accross her spine and she slowly turns her head back to look at him. Seeing at the same person who's death certificate is in her hands. She gulps the lump in her throat and stares at the dead man frozen in her position. She takes in a sharp breath when a deafening thunder fills up the silence. The weather is getting colder and clouds are spreading accross the sky, darkening the dark, darker.