The hurricane hit on a Tuesday. I know this because Tuesday was the day the water rose highest, and Tuesday was the day Jack died.

The Durand estate sat on the banks of the Mississippi, a sprawling plantation house built by my great-grandfather in 1842. It had survived the Civil War, the flood of 1927, and three generations of Durand madness. But it could not survive the hurricane.

Jack was in the kitchen when the roof came down. He was trying to secure the supplies, as he always did, even when the world was ending. A beam from the fireplace fell on him. He was dead before he hit the floor.

I watched him die from the second-floor window. I could not move. I was paralyzed by the same cowardice that had paralyzed me my entire life.

Isabelle came for Claire. She was a nurse from the nearby town, and she had the sense to leave when the water rose. She took Claire with her, and I let them go. I told myself it was because the estate needed someone to stay behind. But the truth was simpler: I was afraid of being alone in the house, and if I let Isabelle and Claire leave, I would have to face the fact that I was choosing to stay.

Day 5

The water is receding, but the cellar door is loosening. I check it three times a day. Every time, it is worse. Every time, I hear my grandfather's voice from the other side, saying: "Let me out, Silas. They are all dead. You do not need to protect anyone anymore."

I do not know if I hear him or if I am hearing myself.

Day 10

The voice from the cellar is louder today. "You have been a good boy, Silas. But you are a bad man. You lock your own grandfather in the dark and call it protection."

I answered: "I am protecting everyone from you."

The voice laughed. It was my grandfather's laugh, the one I remembered from childhood, warm and gravelly and full of whiskey. "There is no one left to protect, Silas. There never was."

Day 15

Isabelle's voice came from somewhere in the distance. "Silas! We found high ground! Come up!"

I went to the window and looked. The water was still rising. The house was surrounded. And the voice was just the water hitting the drainpipe, the same way it always does when the wind blows from the east.

I found Claire's letter on the kitchen table. "Silas, do not wait for me. Live." I wrote on the back: "If I live, we will go to Paris. If you die, I will not."

Day 20

The water has receded completely. But I am too weak to leave the house. I sit in the armchair in the first-floor parlor, in front of my grandfather's portrait, and I wait.

I open the cellar door.

It is empty.

There is no one inside. There never was.

I realize now that my grandfather died ten years ago. Ten years. I have been locking an empty cellar, listening to a voice that was only my own madness, protecting everyone from a ghost.

I walk to the window and look at the Mississippi River. The sun is setting, and the water is golden, and the stars are coming out. The sky is not dark. It is grey, with stars and matter and energy, a veil of light that stretches from horizon to horizon.

I am floating in the sea of stars, and it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

"Jack," I whisper. "I did it."

And then I lean back in the chair and close my eyes.

Objective Code Encoding (OTMES v2): M1=8.0 M2=0.5 M3=3.0 M4=8.5 M5=1.0 M6=4.5 M7=9.0 M8=1.0 M9=3.5 M10=3.0 N1=0.20 N2=0.80 K1=0.75 K2=0.25 V=0.85 I=1.00 C=0.70 S=0.50 R=0.15 TI=68.0 (T2 幻灭级) Theta=90° (诗意型) E_total=14.0