The Candle And The Boy

The Open Chest

The moment Ren stood in front of the old chest seemed longer than time itself. The air was cold and increased his feeling of dread. Every atom in his body was warning him not to proceed, but the strong voice he heard at the end of the previous chapter, ordering him to open the chest, was robbing him of the ability to think clearly.

Slowly, he extended his trembling hand towards the rusty lock, trying to figure out if he could open it easily. With the first touch, he felt that the lock wasn't as resistant as he expected. As soon as he pressed it slightly, the lock shattered and fell to the stone floor with a hollow metallic sound.

Ren took a deep breath, then slowly pushed the lid of the chest. The chest began to emit an ancient creak, as if it hadn't been opened for centuries. The inside was dark, but something was shining at the bottom.

He shone his flashlight inside the chest to discover what was inside: an old doll, close to the shape of the Red-Faced Man, was thrown at the bottom, along with a collection of old letters and pictures, very similar to those he had found earlier.

"A doll? What is it doing here?"

He took the doll carefully, trying to remember if he had seen this doll before. But there was nothing familiar about its strange shape, except that the doll's face, which resembled the Red-Faced Man, struck terror in his heart.

Ren put the doll aside and began to open the letters one by one. The written words were broken and mysterious, but some sentences were repeated like a warning:

"The Red Face will return to claim what is his..."

There was something common among all the letters: the mention of the Red Face and his inevitable return. The letters were written in the style of a person drowning in terror and fear, as if the writer knew that a horrific end was waiting for him.

"Who wrote these letters? And what do they mean by his return?"

While he was searching among the old papers, his eye fell on a large picture hidden beneath all the letters. This picture was different, it wasn't just an ordinary picture. It was in black and white, showing a group of people standing next to an abandoned cabin. The person in the middle was wearing the same clothes he had seen the Red-Faced Man wearing in the other pictures, and the place itself resembled the cabin he had seen in the paintings hanging on the walls.

The strange thing was, there was something unnatural about the picture. All the people in the picture had their faces shadowed or covered by something mysterious, except for the face of the Red-Faced Man, which was clear and terrifying at the same time.

"What's happening here? Is this a picture from the past?"

Ren felt as if the picture was looking at him, as if it held within it a puzzle that needed to be solved. He put it aside and began searching among the letters for answers. One of the letters was different from the rest, and contained a small hand-drawn map pointing to a strange location outside the city.

"This place... this is the cabin."

The map was leading to a specific place, and the details were clear enough for him to follow. It seems that this cabin was an important place for the Red-Faced Man, and perhaps it was the place where all this chaos began.

Suddenly, Ren heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind him. He turned quickly to find his mother standing at the entrance of the room, but this time she wasn't just a hazy image. She was standing real, her eyes still empty, but she looked as if she wanted to say something.

"Ren... you must stop. Don't go there."

Her voice was full of despair, as if she knew something dangerous, but Ren was determined to uncover the truth no matter the cost.

"Why, Mom? Why are you hiding these secrets from me? Who is the Red-Faced Man?"

His mother sighed deeply, as if she carried in her heart a weight that no one could bear. She approached him slowly and placed her cold hand on his shoulder.

"There are things you shouldn't know, Ren. There are secrets that can destroy you."

But Ren wasn't ready to listen. He held the map in his hand and took a deep breath.

"I need to know. I'm going there."

His mother stood silently, her features reflecting sadness and despair. But Ren was determined to uncover the truth. He left the room leaving his mother behind, and headed towards the place indicated by the map.

On his way to the cabin, everything around him seemed unnatural. The sky was full of dark clouds, and the winds were blowing strongly, making the atmosphere even stranger and more mysterious. The road was desolate, as if the place itself was warning of the coming of something terrible.

When he reached the cabin, there was a strange aura surrounding the place. The cabin looked old and abandoned for years, but there was a feeling that it wasn't empty. He approached slowly, his eyes surveying the place.

Suddenly, he heard a sound coming from inside. It was the sound of light footsteps, as if someone was moving inside the cabin. His heart started beating strongly, but he couldn't back down now. He pushed the door slowly to enter.

The inside was dark and cold. The walls were covered with mold, and the floor was full of dust. But in the corner, there was a small lit candle, illuminating a picture hanging on the wall. The picture showed the Red-Faced Man, standing in the same place where Ren was standing now.

"I've been waiting for you..."

The voice he heard wasn't from imagination.