Eli admitted he had not gone back to capture more videos. His mother had forbidden it. Too many people in the village were talking, he said, and his younger sister started crying whenever anyone mentioned the reef. Nora almost told him they were all being ridiculous, but stopped.
Because if she were honest, the video unsettled her precisely because it did not look staged. There was nothing theatrical about it. No dramatic music, no clever angles, no village storyteller trying to turn fear into profit. It looked awkward, accidental, and far too close to her father’s notes.