Chapter 4 - The House of Ghosts

The next two days were silent. The silence wasn't the peaceful kind; it was the suffocating kind. Ethan stopped eating. He wouldn't get out of bed. The doctors came, but Ethan turned his face to the wall.
The mansion, without Sophia’s humming and her firm but kind commands, felt like a tomb. Alexander tried to step in. He brought toys, expensive electronics, and the finest tutors, but Ethan didn't even look at them.
Alexander realized then that his son was not just mourning the loss of a friend; he was mourning the loss of the only person who made him feel capable.
He went into Sophia’s old room. It was sparse. He found a notebook on the nightstand. It was filled with exercises, sketches of muscle groups, and notes about Ethan’s favorite songs and fears. It was a manual for his son’s happiness.
May you like
He realized then that he hadn't been fighting a spy. He had been fighting his own insecurity. He had been so obsessed with being a "provider" that he forgot how to be a father.
He picked up the phone. It was the hardest thing he had ever done.