Chapter 3 - THE HOUSE THAT LISTENS
Elena woke Marcus by shoving the note against his chest.
He squinted at it.
“What is this?”
“You tell me.”
He sat up.
It was 2:13 a.m.
Rain hammered the windows.
Marcus read the message twice.
“Where did you get this?”
“Under my pillow.”
“When?”
“Just now.”
He looked at the bedroom door.
“Did anyone come in?”
“I was asleep, Marcus.”
He turned the note over.
Blank.
“This could be some stupid prank.”
Elena stared at him.
“By who? The ghost maid?”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make everything sound insane before I can even respond.”
She climbed out of bed.
“I want to leave.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
“It’s pouring.”
“I don’t care.”
“You’re seven months pregnant.”
“And apparently living in a house where someone crawls into our bedroom while we sleep.”
Marcus rubbed both hands over his face.
“Elena, just give me ten minutes.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“I said no.”
She opened the closet and pulled down a suitcase.
Marcus watched her throw clothes into it.
Finally, he stood.
“Okay.”
She stopped.
“Okay?”
“We leave.”
Something loosened inside her chest.
Then he added, “But we go to the hospital first.”
“No.”
“You almost cut yourself tonight.”
“I was hallucinating because somebody drugged me.”
“We don’t know that.”
“You always say that.”
“Because we don’t!”
Elena slammed the suitcase shut.
Marcus flinched.
Silence filled the room.
Then a faint noise came through the wall.
A baby crying.
Elena went rigid.
Marcus looked at her.
“Do you hear that?”
She whispered, “Yes.”
The crying came again.
Thin.
Distant.
Impossible.
Marcus walked toward the wall.
Elena grabbed his wrist.
“Don’t.”
He pressed his ear against the wallpaper.
The crying stopped.
Then came a metallic click.
Marcus frowned.
He knocked on the wall.
Hollow.
“That’s not right.”
“What?”
“There’s space behind here.”
Hale Manor was nearly a century old. It had service corridors, unused staircases, dumbwaiters, sealed rooms.
Things wealthy families called history.
Things normal people called creepy as hell.
Marcus ran his hand along the molding.
His fingers found a tiny latch.
The wallpaper panel shifted.
Elena’s mouth went dry.
Behind it was a narrow passage.
Cold air moved across their faces.
Marcus took out his phone and turned on the flashlight.
“Stay here.”
“Not a chance.”
“Elena.”
“If you go in there alone, I will literally divorce you.”
Despite everything, Marcus almost smiled.
They entered together.
The corridor was barely three feet wide.
Dust covered the floor.
Old electrical wires ran along one wall.
Then Elena saw something newer.
A small black speaker.
Mounted behind the bedroom wall.
Marcus stared at it.
“No.”
Elena felt sick.
“The baby crying.”
He pulled the speaker free.
A wire ran deeper into the passage.
They followed it.
Twenty feet later, they reached a little wooden shelf.
On it sat a digital audio player.
Marcus picked it up.
There were several tracks.
BABY_01.
WHISPER_02.
DINING_ROOM.
Elena’s blood turned cold.
Marcus pressed DINING_ROOM.
Victoria’s voice came from the speaker.
“You were never supposed to have his child.”
The exact words Elena had heard during her hallucination.
Marcus went pale.
Elena whispered, “Now do you believe me?”
Then a light appeared at the far end of the corridor.
Someone was standing there.
Watching them.
May you like
And the figure suddenly ran.
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