Note: This takes place about 5 years after _The_Ring_. _The_Ring_ is the creation of Gore Verbanski.
~~~7~~~
Aidan Keller waited five minutes before waking his mother. Coffee was already on done and scrambled eggs and French toast were already served.
"Rachel, you are going to be running late. Eat, shower, and get dressed. It's raining again and the buses are not running." Aidan did not yell, scream, talk in a hurried tone; he did not rush through sentences. He spoke in a plain monotone, as if he knew that his mother would be running late, drink and eat her breakfast at the same time, driving as fast as she could in the horrible Seattle traffic, getting him to his school just as the late bell sounded. The fact of the matter was that he probably did.
Only one thing was out of order that morning and Aidan did not bother to fix it; it had never fit quite right on the wall. A picture was askew, the picture of Aidan's birth father, Noah, who was killed at the end of that awful week.
After they made a copy of the tape together, Rachel Keller broke down. Total nervous breakdown. Her editor did not blame her, but did everything to help. He even arranged a small retreat for her to go to. First day there, she removed all mirrors and lined the dresser and small coffee table with coasters. She refused to let the girl back in. She ordered the administrator to take away the television and phone and, if there was an emergency and she needed to be contacted, to have someone come to her in person. Rachel claimed that she did not want any outside distractions. The truth was more horrifying than the reality of it. Rachel was thoroughly terrified, but she had her reflection back. She stayed there, at the retreat, for ten days, which made it exactly two weeks after she freed Samara; she wanted be sure that the girl was gone.
Aidan's reflection returned after his seventh day. It was on that day Noah was laid to rest. No one knew what to do with him; Noah's estranged father did not want to give him a proper Jewish burial, like his mother would want- no rabbi would sanctify it. A Catholic one was out of the question because of that very reason and no one would consider an open casket. On Rachel's third day away, the second day of what to do about the body, the head editor of the Seattle Post-Inquirer walked in with a five-year old boy, claiming to be the some of Noah and Rachel Keller. He proceeded to pick up a phone and call a lawyer, the very lawyer that Noah had used several weeks before when he half completed a will. It was Noah's wish to be cremated and have his ashes spread over the Grand Canyon. It was there on assignment where he met Rachel, a young reporter doing a story on families on vacation who needed a good photographer. Aidan led the task in dividing up Noah's possessions and, in the VCR, he found a copy of the tape. He hid it.
After he was back in the apartment with his babysitter, he used Rachel's credit card and ordered the most secure safe he could find. Aidan continued and called a construction company to install the safe into the side of the wall over the fake fireplace. When Rachel got back, she noticed the picture of Noah and how it leaned slightly to the left; assuming that Aidan hung it himself, she ignored it. It took Aidan two days of searching the apartment to find the other two copies. In their place, he put two old Disney movies and moved the tapes into the safe. One day later, Rachel fell into a fit panic; she remembered that Noah had a copy of the video. "I destroyed it, Rachel. Do not worry about it. I took care of it," her son said.
They both let it go. Rachel knew he was lying; it was his only flaw, Aidan was a horrible liar. Either way, they both knew destroying the tape would only bring her back. She never sleeps and wants to stay alive as much as possible; destroying the tape would only bring her back.
Rachel ignored the charges on her Visa. There was only one logical connection, and she didn't want to make it. Not just yet.
~~~7~~~
Aidan is beyond genius. After two years in his old school and bumped up to the next grade at the beginning of each year, he was placed in the sixth grade, then moved to the best gifted school in the city. Here, there is no limit to what he can do and grow. Of course, there are others similar to him, but few like him. He has taken up photography and filmmaking with some of Noah's equipment that he held onto, creating some of the strangest and most moving short features that anyone at the school had ever seen. The twelfth graders and their leading film teacher brought him into their fold. _Their_Fold_ was the senior class film and entered into Seattle film festival; Aidan's camera work, editing, and additions to the storyline made them win the grand prize. Apparently, he also has his mother's gift of the written word. Coppola and Melville in the body of a eleven-year old.
Coming home late, as usual, he made himself a snack. Rachel was coming in even later, so dinner had to be ready for her. He would wait; he always waits. The wind blew the script he was working all over the floor. Someone else was here.
Rachel's room was almost empty. Her jewelry box was cleared out. Some of his editing equipment was gone.
It was while he was dialing 911 when he saw the worst of it. The picture of Noah was straight.