To stop the maid.

But two mourners grabbed him before he reached her.

“Move!” the maid screamed.

This time, no one called her crazy.

She shoved both hands into the cracked opening and pulled with everything she had.

The lid groaned.

Wood snapped.

Then the coffin opened just enough for them to see her.

Evelyn.

Still in her white funeral dress.

Her face pale.

Her lips blue.

Her fingers trembling against the satin lining.

A cry tore through the room.

The maid reached inside and grabbed her hand.

“Ma’am, I’m here. I’m here.”

Evelyn’s eyes opened barely.

The husband backed away.

The maid looked at him then.

Not scared anymore.

Furious.

“She told me you were doing something to her medicine.”

His mouth went dry.

“That’s a lie.”

The maid reached into her apron and pulled out a folded tissue.

Inside was one tiny pill.

“I found this under her bed.”

Then she pulled out Evelyn’s phone.

The screen was cracked.

But one message was still there.

If I don’t wake up, don’t let Daniel bury me.

The room turned toward him.

Daniel’s knees almost gave out.

Evelyn’s mother made a sound like her heart had been ripped open.

“You said she died in her sleep.”

Daniel shook his head fast.

“She was sick. The doctor said—”

“The doctor is your brother,” the maid whispered.

The silence after that was worse than screaming.

Evelyn’s fingers tightened weakly around the maid’s hand.

Her lips moved.

The maid leaned close.

Everyone held their breath.

Evelyn whispered one broken sentence.

“He wanted the house.”

Daniel turned toward the door.

But the mourners moved first.

One man blocked him.

Then another.

The maid climbed halfway into the coffin, holding Evelyn’s face gently, crying now like a child.

“I heard you knocking from the hallway,” she whispered. “I knew you weren’t gone.”

Evelyn’s eyes filled with tears.

The maid looked back at Daniel as sirens began faintly outside.

“You almost buried her alive.”

Daniel’s face collapsed.

Not with guilt.

With fear.

And as the room finally rushed to save the woman they had come to mourn, Evelyn lifted one shaking finger toward her husband and whispered,

“He watched me wake up.”