The phone rang but no one answered.

A robotic voice began to speak :

PLEASE RECORD YOUR MESSAGE AFTER THE BEEP

"Hi, Hannah. It's Lug, I know you're mad at me but listen to one more thing. It's about the treasure..."

After he finished speaking, Lug tucked his phone back into his pocket.

There was a weight off his shoulders, he had completed the mission he had set out to do.

Find the treasure and tell Hannah the truth.

After that, he felt that he needed to change his mind.

The only idea that came to his mind was taking care of his plants.

So that’s what he did.

The day passed slowly, he looked at his phone from time to time but no notifications appeared.

"Maybe Hannah didn't even listen to my message" he thought.

In the late afternoon he went to sit on the wall overlooking the landfill.

He had taken cushions and a thermos of tea, he was there to see the sunset, even if it would take a few hours.

It was undoubtedly his favorite place for this activity.

Far enough away from the tombs to be at peace, and the height gave him an unobstructed view.

Lug was lost in thought when he heard the cemetery gate creak and then close.

He had not closed it despite the hour in the hope that Hannah would come.

After a few seconds he saw her approaching him, beers in hand.

"Hi... Can I sit down?" she asked.

Lug shifted and gave her a seat on a cushion.

They were both looking at the mountains in the distance that could still be seen bathed in sunlight.

"You want a beer?" Hannah said, while holding one towards Lug.

"Yes, thanks."

Lug had a thousand things to say but he stayed silent.

He waited for Hannah to speak.

She took a few minutes to start.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you and left you alone on the mountain. I really thought you were messing with me... And I still have a hard time believing you see ghosts."

Lug smiled upon hearing this.

"It's okay, I didn’t treat you right. I shouldn't have lied."

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Hannah held out her can of beer and Lug did the same.

"To the truth!" They both said, smiles on their faces.

After a sip of beer, Lug too curious to know asked :

"Have you seen your aunt?"

Hannah sighed.

"Yes... When I heard your message I didn't understand why you were asking me to go to her and tell her something so cruel. But in the end I did... I got in the car went to her place and in her kitchen I told her that her grandmother had died carrying an adulterous child."

Lug felt the consequences of his actions on his shoulders.

"Was the truth always good to tell?" he wondered.

"Upon hearing these words she began to cry nonstop and she told me everything... Linette had cheated on her husband, my great grandfather, with another man and she was carrying his child. She had hidden it from everyone but her sister. In the end the shame and the weight of this secret was passed on. I think it freed Aunt Marie in a way, to finally be able to talk about it..."

"I see." said Lug.

He didn't say much because he didn't know what to say. He felt a little guilty for bringing about so much change, but he also felt relieved to share this moment with Hannah.

There was a silence during which they drank some beer while watching the sun go down on the horizon.

"So... how did you find out that the treasure was a child?" Hannah asked.

Lug looked at her with a serious expression.

"Do you really want to know?"

"I think so, yes."

Lug put down his beer that was freezing his hand and began to tell his story.

"When I woke up this morning I became aware of something I had been putting aside all this time about your aunt: everything about her screamed childlessness."

Hannah raised her eyebrows.

"The absence of children?"

"Yes, her cats, the fact that she lived in an old schoolhouse, her mugs with little drawings on them, and then that ghost that acted like a child, with no hair at all... I don't know how I didn't think of it sooner."

"There was a... Ghost...?"

"You don't have to believe me, but yes, a completely naked ghost who wanted to play hide and seek."

"Oh, is that why you weren't in the kitchen?"

"Yes I was in the attic, that's where I found the postcard."

Hannah was starting to understand Lug's actions.

"And how you could be sure she really had a child, I don't understand."

"I had enough clues, I just needed to check what was in Linette's grave. I asked a ghost friend to go and look under the ground."

"A ghost... friend? And he went to look in the grave..."

Hannah took it upon herself, she still didn't really believe Lug.

"Yes, his name is Eno. He was watching TV so he was a little grumpy when I asked him. Plus the cemetery ground is hard for ghosts to penetrate for some reason, but in the end he managed and found a fetus between Linette's legs."

Hannah opened her eyes and mouth wide, she looked disgusted.

"Ugh... Let's say it's true... How did the fetus get there?"

"I asked another ghost I know who used to work here. He told me that it's a rare phenomenon called a coffin birth. The pregnant woman delivers the fetus after death."

Hannah had tears in her eyes, she raised her head to look up at the sky.

"So her wish didn't come true, she really took her treasure with her."

"Yes..." said Lug.

Hannah laid back against the stone, the pillow under her head.

"Say, Lug. If you see ghosts why didn't you ask Linette directly?"

"She disappeared, unfortunately."

"The ghosts can disappear?"

"Yes, and nobody knows anything about it."

"I wonder what it could be like... Something invisible disappearing..." said Hannah dreamily.

Lug found this idea interesting.

"You should write koans, Hannah. You're good."

They laughed together.

"It's too bad her ghost is gone, I would have liked to talk to her. To know what it was like to live in her time, what my great grandfather was like and my grandmother too, when she was little."

Lug was surprised, he had never thought of going to talk to the ghosts of his relatives.

Not that it mattered to him anyway.

"Now that we have found the treasure we need a new mystery, let's find out the secret behind the disappearing ghosts!" said Hannah as a joke.

Lug took this idea very seriously.

He began to think.

"Hannah, what would you do if you had to solve this mystery?"

She turned her head towards Lug.

"Why would you ask me that?"

"My head is in the sand, I can't get any distance on this problem. But you can take a fresh look at it."

"Mmmh if you say so… Okay... I guess the best thing to do is to ask a ghost who witnessed a disappearance?"

The idea was simple and Lug had already thought of it but who could have witnessed it? Besides, it was a taboo question among many ghosts.

Lug remained thoughtful.

"Now that I think about it... A child disappeared recently and his father asked me to find him, maybe he knows something?"

Hannah stood up.

"The key to this mystery is yet again a child, history is repeating itself. Let's go before it gets dark!"