Chapter 4: The Second Child
The message stayed on my phone for eleven minutes before I finally moved.
Eleven minutes of staring at the photograph.
Eleven minutes of trying to convince myself there was another explanation.
A stranger.
A prank.
Someone trying to scare me.
But I knew the truth.
Because I recognized the window.
My bedroom window.
The curtains.
The small crack in the flowerpot outside.
Someone had been standing outside my house.
Watching me sleep.
I rushed out of the police station without saying goodbye.
“Daniel!”” Officer Harris shouted behind me.
I stopped but didn’t turn around.
“You can’t just leave.””
I looked at the phone in my hand.
“My daughter is at home.””
His expression changed.
“Is she alone?””
“No.””
But the second I said it, I realized something.
Maya was with my neighbor.
Not family.
Not someone I trusted completely.
A stranger.
I ran.
The drive home felt endless.
Every red light felt like a trap.
Every person walking along the street looked like someone waiting for me.
My hands were shaking so badly I almost missed my driveway.
The front door was open.
My heart stopped.
I grabbed the old baseball bat from the back seat of my car and stepped inside.
“Maya?””
No answer.
The house was silent.
Too silent.
“Maya!””
A small voice answered from upstairs.
“Daddy?””
I ran up the stairs.
She was sitting on my bed, hugging her stuffed rabbit.
Her eyes were red from crying.
I dropped the bat.
“Maya.””
She ran into my arms.
“I thought you weren’t coming back.””
I held her tightly.
“I’m here.””
She pulled away.
“Daddy?””
“What?””
“Why did that man say he was sorry?””
My blood went cold.
“What man?””
She pointed toward the window.
“He came earlier.””
I turned slowly.
The curtains moved slightly.
“What did he look like?””
Maya squeezed her rabbit.
“He was old.””
My stomach tightened.
“Old?””
She nodded.
“He had gray hair.””
I looked out the window.
Nothing.
Just the street.
Just trees moving in the wind.
“What did he say?””
Maya looked down.
“He said he didn’t mean for Leo to get hurt.””
I felt like someone had punched me.
“Did he come inside?””
She shook her head.
“No.””
“Did you talk to him?””
She nodded.
“Only a little.””
I knelt in front of her.
“Maya, listen to me. You did nothing wrong. But I need you to tell me everything.””
She wiped her tears.
“He asked if you knew about the other room.””
I froze.
“The other room?””
She nodded.
“Then he said…”
Her voice became quieter.
“He said Leo wasn’t the first.””
A cold silence filled the bedroom.
I called Officer Harris immediately.
Twenty minutes later, police cars surrounded my house.
Maya was taken downstairs while officers searched every room.
I stood in the hallway, staring at the family photos on the wall.
Photos from before everything fell apart.
Leo smiling with missing teeth.
Maya sitting on my shoulders.
Elena laughing at a birthday party.
A perfect family.
A lie.
Officer Harris came out of the basement.
“Daniel.””
I looked at him.
“What did you find?””
He hesitated.
That hesitation told me enough.
“Tell me.””
He lowered his voice.
“There’s something behind the basement wall.””
My stomach dropped.
“What?””
“A hidden door.””
The officers moved aside.
Behind a shelf of old boxes was a section of wall that looked newer than the rest.
Fresh paint.
New screws.
Someone had tried to hide it.
Officer Harris opened it carefully.
The smell hit us first.
Dust.
Mold.
Old wood.
And something else.
Fear.
Inside was a narrow room.
Empty.
Almost.
On the floor were drawings.
Dozens of them.
Children’s drawings.
My hands went numb.
I picked one up.
A picture of a house.
A child beneath the floor.
And a man standing above.
The child had written one word:
*HELP.*
Officer Harris looked at the drawings.
“How old is this house?””
“Almost thirty years.””
He nodded slowly.
“Then this didn’t start with Leo.””
I looked around the hidden room.
On the wall were scratches.
Hundreds of them.
Small marks.
Like someone had counted days.
Then I saw something carved into the wood.
A name.
Not Leo.
Not Maya.
A different name.
A name I had never seen before.
*Sophie.*
“Who is Sophie?”” Officer Harris asked.
I shook my head.
“I don’t know.””
But before he could answer, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
Again.
I answered.
No one spoke.
Only breathing.
Then a child’s voice whispered:
“Daddy?””
My blood froze.
Because it wasn’t Leo.
And it wasn’t Maya.
It was a girl.
A girl who sounded terrified.
The call ended.
Officer Harris stared at me.
“Who was that?””
I slowly lowered my phone.
“I don’t know.””
Then my eyes returned to the name carved into the wall.
Sophie.
And I realized something.
The message wasn’t a threat.
May you like
It was a warning.
Leo wasn’t the only child Marcus had taken.
