Episode 5: Welcome Back, Princess.

THE LAST NAME I WAS GIVEN

EPISODE 5 – WELCOME BACK, PRINCESS

📍Blackwood Manor

⏰ 9:40 AM

Ava couldn't stop staring at the photograph.

"She should have died that night."

Those six words haunted her.

Who wanted her dead?

And more importantly...

Why?

The room felt silent.

Too silent.

The security guards continued searching the mansion, but Ava could barely hear them.

Her thoughts were louder than everything else.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Ethan stood beside her.

His expression was unreadable.

But his clenched fists revealed the truth.

He was worried.

Very worried.

Ava: Ethan...

Ethan: Hmm?

Ava: Am I really in danger?

For a moment, he didn't answer.

And that silence was answer enough.

Ava felt her stomach drop.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Ava: Then tell me everything.

Ethan: I can't.

Ava: Why not?

Ethan: Because I don't know everything myself.

Ava frowned.

That was the first honest answer Ethan had given her.

Ava: Then what do you know?

Ethan looked away.

Ethan: I know someone doesn't want you alive.

Ava: That's comforting.

Ethan: Ava—

Ava: No, seriously. I feel much better now.

For a second, Ethan almost smiled.

Almost.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

📍Later That Afternoon

Ava sat alone in the living room.

Rain tapped softly against the windows.

The mansion felt bigger than ever.

Lonelier than ever.

Suddenly—

🚪 Ding Dong

The doorbell rang.

A maid hurried to answer it.

A few moments later, she returned carrying a small black box.

Maid: Ma'am, this package arrived for you.

Ava: For me?

The maid nodded.

There was no sender name.

No address.

Nothing.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

A strange feeling settled inside Ava's chest.

Carefully, she opened the box.

Inside was a silver bracelet.

Old.

Worn.

Beautiful.

The moment she touched it...

A sharp pain shot through her head.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

FLASH!

A little girl laughing.

FLASH!

A lake.

FLASH!

Someone screaming.

FLASH!

Smoke.

Fire.

People running.

FLASH!

A woman's voice.

"Run, Princess!"

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Ava gasped.

The vision disappeared instantly.

She almost dropped the bracelet.

Her breathing became uneven.

Ava: What was that?

Her hands trembled.

She had never seen those memories before.

Yet they felt real.

Terrifyingly real.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Then she noticed a folded note beneath the bracelet.

Slowly, she unfolded it.

Written in blood-red ink were three words:

"Welcome back, Princess."

Ava's blood ran cold.

Princess?

Who was Princess?

Her?

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Before she could think further—

A voice came from behind.

Ethan: Where did you get that?

Ava turned.

Ethan was staring at the bracelet.

And for the first time...

He looked completely shocked.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Ava: It came in the package.

Ethan immediately grabbed the bracelet.

His face turned pale.

Ava: Ethan?

He didn't answer.

He was staring at the bracelet as if he had seen a ghost.

Ava: Tell me what's happening!

Silence.

Then Ethan whispered,

Ethan: This belonged to her.

Ava: To who?

His eyes met hers.

Ethan: The missing girl.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Ava's heart nearly stopped.

Ava: You're saying this bracelet belonged to me?

Ethan nodded slowly.

Ethan: You wore it the night you disappeared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

The room spun.

Ava sat down heavily.

Nothing made sense anymore.

How could a bracelet she had supposedly lost fourteen years ago suddenly appear today?

Who sent it?

And how did they get it?

━━━━━━━━━━━━

📍That Evening

The storm outside grew stronger.

Lightning illuminated the dark mansion.

Ava stood near her bedroom window.

She couldn't stop thinking about the note.

"Welcome back, Princess."

Suddenly—

She noticed movement outside.

Near the forest.

Someone was standing there.

Watching the mansion.

Watching her.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Ava's heart pounded.

The figure was dressed completely in black.

Its face hidden beneath a hood.

For a moment, neither moved.

Then the figure slowly raised its hand.

And pointed directly at her.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Ava stepped back in fear.

The next lightning flash illuminated the forest again.

The figure was gone.

Just gone.

As if it had never been there.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

📍11:58 PM

Ava couldn't sleep.

The mansion felt different tonight.

More dangerous.

More alive.

Then—

📱 Message Received

Unknown Number.

Ava's pulse quickened.

Unknown Number: Did you receive your bracelet?

Ava: Who are you?!

Unknown Number: Someone who knows the truth.

Ava: What truth?

Several seconds passed.

Then a new message appeared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Unknown Number:

"Ask Ethan what happened to your parents the night of the fire."

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Ava froze.

Her parents?

What did that mean?

The people who raised her were alive.

Weren't they?

Then why would the sender mention her parents?

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Before she could type another message—

One final text appeared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Unknown Number:

"Trust no one."

"Not even your husband."

━━━━━━━━━━━━

At the exact same moment—

A loud crash echoed from upstairs.

The attic.

Ava's eyes widened.

Someone...

Or something...

Was inside the forbidden attic.

🔥 END OF EPISODE 5

📌 Episode 6 Preview:

Unable to ignore the noise, Ava secretly climbs to the attic at midnight. But when she finally enters, she discovers a hidden room containing dozens of children's drawings... and every drawing has her face in it.

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