Chapter 5 - The Boy Beneath the FloorClaire drove for nearly an hour before stopping outside an old motel.
The sign flickered.
VACANCY.
They rented a room under a false name.
Elliot sat on the bed while Claire checked the curtains three times.
“Mom.”
She didn't respond.
“Who was my brother?”
Claire sat beside him.
“His name was Noah.”
“How old was he?”
“Six months.”
“What happened?”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“One night, he vanished from his crib.”
“Someone took him?”
“I thought so.”
She swallowed.
“Daniel thought so too.”
“Then what?”
“We searched everywhere.”
“And?”
“We found him three days later.”
Elliot leaned forward.
“Where?”
“In the basement.”
His skin prickled.
“He was alive?”
Claire shook her head.
“He was asleep.”
“Like dead?”
“No.”
She whispered:
“He was breathing.”
“Then why did you say he was missing?”
“Because he wasn't Noah anymore.”
Elliot stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“He remembered things a six-month-old couldn't possibly know.”
“Like what?”
“Names.”
“Whose?”
“People who had died decades earlier.”
A soft knocking came from the motel bathroom.
Claire stopped speaking.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Elliot looked toward the door.
“Mom…”
“Don't.”
Another knock.
Then a child's voice.
“Mommy?”
Claire covered her mouth.
The voice came again.
“Mommy, it's Noah.”
Elliot stood.
Claire grabbed him.
“Don't answer.”
The bathroom door slowly opened.
Inside was darkness.
Then a small boy stepped into the room.
He was about eight years old.
Blonde hair.
Pale skin.
Bare feet.
Elliot stared at him.
“Are you Noah?”
The boy smiled.
“Yes.”
Claire screamed.
“No!”
Noah's face suddenly changed.
For one second, he looked exactly like the pale creature.
Then he looked normal again.
“You promised,” Noah said to Claire.
“What?”
“You promised you'd bring Elliot back.”
Claire's eyes widened.
“Who told you that?”
Noah pointed toward the motel mirror.
A black shape appeared behind their reflections.
The creature.
Claire grabbed Elliot.
“Run!”
They rushed into the hallway.
The motel lights went out one by one.
Room 12.
Room 11.
Room 10.
Darkness followed them.
Noah stood at the end of the hallway.
“Elliot!”
He waved.
“You forgot something.”
He held up the red toy car.
Elliot froze.
His mother had left it at home.
Noah smiled.
“This belonged to me first.”
The creature's voice echoed from every room.
“And tonight, Elliot will belong to me.”
Claire pulled him toward the exit.
But when they reached the parking lot, there was no car.
No motel.
No road.
Only their old house.
Standing beneath the rain.
Claire stared at it in horror.
“No…”
Elliot looked at her.
“Mom?”
May you like
She whispered:
“We never left.”
