Chapter 1 - “Dad… open that wall!”My six-year-old daughter Lily screamed from the storage room.
I had never heard fear in her voice like that.
I ran down the corridor so fast that my shoulder struck the doorframe. When I reached the storage room, Vanessa was standing beside the enormous antique wardrobe that had belonged to my grandfather.
She had both arms around Lily.
My daughter was struggling.
“Take your hand off her.”
Vanessa looked at me.
For one strange second, neither of us moved.
Then she covered Lily’s mouth.
That was the moment something inside me snapped.
I crossed the room, grabbed Vanessa’s wrist, and pulled Lily free.
Lily threw herself against my chest.
“Dad!”
Her small body was shaking.
I wrapped one arm around her and stared at Vanessa.
“What were you doing?”
Vanessa rubbed her wrist.
“I was trying to stop her from climbing the wardrobe.”
“You were covering her mouth.”
“She was screaming.”
“She was screaming because you were dragging her.”
Vanessa opened her mouth, then closed it.
Lily suddenly lifted her trembling hand and pointed behind the wardrobe.
“There.”
Her voice was barely audible.
“Behind that wall.”
I looked at the wardrobe.
It was a massive piece of carved walnut, nearly seven feet tall. It had been in that room for as long as I could remember. My grandfather used to keep old ledgers and hunting rifles inside it.
I had never moved it.
“What do you mean, behind the wall?”
Lily swallowed.
“I heard knocking.”
Vanessa froze.
I noticed.
That tiny movement.
A hesitation.
A flicker of panic.
Lily continued.
“I was looking for Bunny. Then I heard…”
She pressed her ear against my chest.
“…someone.”
“Someone?”
“A woman.”
Vanessa’s face had gone pale.
“What did she say?”
Lily looked at me.
“She said my name.”
The room suddenly felt colder.
“What exactly did she say?”
Lily whispered it.
“Lily.”
I stared at Vanessa.
“You heard this?”
“No.”
She answered too quickly.
I looked at the wardrobe again.
“What's behind it?”
“Nothing.”
The answer came instantly.
Too instantly.
“Nothing?”
“It’s an old wall.”
“Then why are you shaking?”
“I’m not.”
She was.
Her hands were trembling.
I stepped toward the wardrobe.
“Daniel,” Vanessa said.
Nobody called me Daniel unless they were angry, formal, or trying to make a point.
She had never sounded like that before.
I placed both hands against the wardrobe and pushed.
It didn’t move.
The wheels beneath it groaned.
Dust spilled from the ceiling.
I pushed harder.
The wardrobe finally shifted several inches.
A dark strip appeared behind it.
Lily gripped my shirt.
“That’s it.”
I pushed again.
The wardrobe rolled away from the wall.
Dust filled the room.
Vanessa coughed.
Behind the wardrobe was a rectangular section of plaster.
It looked newer than the rest.
I stared at it.
“Why is that wall different?”
Vanessa said nothing.
I knocked against it.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The sound changed.
Hollow.
I felt my stomach tighten.
I knocked again.
Hollow.
Lily whispered, “I told you.”
I looked at Vanessa.
“You said there was nothing.”
She looked toward the door.
“Daniel…”
“What is behind this?”
“I don't know.”
“You've lived here for almost two years.”
“Yes.”
“You've cleaned this room.”
“Yes.”
“You've helped Lily search for toys.”
“Yes.”
“And you've never seen this?”
“No.”
I stepped closer to the wall.
Then I heard it.
THUD.
Lily screamed.
Vanessa stepped between me and the plaster.
“Stop.”
I stared at her.
“Move.”
“Daniel, please.”
“You're standing between me and a wall in my own house.”
“There's nothing behind it.”
“Then you won't mind.”
I reached for the hammer hanging beside the workbench.
Vanessa moved toward me.
“Don't do this.”
I lifted it.
“Move.”
She did.
I swung.
CRACK.
The plaster shattered.
Dust exploded into the air.
Lily buried her face against my leg.
I hit the wall again.
And again.
A hole opened.
Behind the plaster was concrete.
Not brick.
Not drywall.
Concrete.
I stared.
“Why would anyone pour concrete inside a storage wall?”
I struck again.
A metallic sound rang through the room.
I stopped.
“There.”
I cleared the broken plaster with my hand.
A steel door was buried inside the concrete frame.
There was no handle.
Only a recessed lock.
And the metal was covered in scratches.
Deep scratches.
Some were rusted.
Others looked fresh.
Lily whispered, “Mom.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“Mom is inside.”
I looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“I heard her.”
I reached toward the steel.
Then something slammed against it from the other side.
BANG.
Lily screamed.
I pressed my ear against the cold metal.
For several seconds, there was nothing.
Then…
Breathing.
Very faint.
Very slow.
“Can you hear me?”
Silence.
I swallowed.
“Who is in there?”
Nothing.
I knocked three times.
“I'm Daniel.”
A long pause.
Then a broken voice came through the steel.
“Dan…”
My blood ran cold.
Nobody had called me that since Claire disappeared.
I stepped closer.
“Who is this?”
The voice came again.
“Daniel?”
The hammer slipped from my hand.
I knew that voice.
I had heard it beside me in bed.
Across the breakfast table.
Singing to Lily when she was a baby.
For eighteen months, I believed my wife had abandoned us.
Now she was calling my name from behind a steel door hidden inside my own house.
May you like
And behind me, Vanessa whispered four words that made my blood freeze even further.
“She should be dead.”
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