CHAPTER 2: THE SHADOW IN THE HALLWAY
The building manager unlocked the surveillance system.
Several people crowded around the monitor.
Rachel.
The two officers.
The building superintendent.
And Emily, clutching her stuffed rabbit.
The footage began.
9:47 PM.
Residents entered and exited normally.
Nothing unusual.
Then the timestamp reached 11:13 PM.
Officer Kowalev suddenly leaned forward.
"Pause."
A dark figure appeared at the end of the hallway.
The room froze.
The man wore black clothing from head to toe.
His face was hidden beneath a dark mask.
He moved carefully.
Slowly.
As if he knew exactly where every camera was located.
Rachel's face turned pale.
"Oh my God..."
The masked figure stopped outside Apartment 3B.
Emily's apartment.
Then something even more disturbing happened.
Instead of forcing the door open...
He pulled out a key.
A key.
The man unlocked the apartment and slipped inside.
Rachel nearly collapsed.
"No... that's impossible..."
The footage continued.
11:14 PM.
The masked intruder entered.
But he never came back out.
The hallway camera showed nothing.
No exit.
No escape.
Nothing.
The room became silent.
Everyone looked at each other.
If he hadn't left...
Then where was he?
The officers immediately rushed back upstairs.
This time they searched everything.
Every room.
Every cabinet.
Every storage space.
Then Kowalev noticed something strange in Emily's bedroom.
A small scratch mark on the hardwood floor beneath the bed.
He knelt down.
Pulled the bed away.
And discovered a hidden panel.
Rachel stared in disbelief.
"I've lived here for six years..."
"I never knew that was there."
The officers removed the panel.
A narrow crawlspace stretched into darkness beneath the apartment.
The smell that emerged was enough to make everyone recoil.
Then Kowalev shined his flashlight inside.
His blood ran cold.
Someone had been living there.
There were food wrappers.
Water bottles.
Blankets.
Flashlights.
And dozens of photographs.
Photographs of Emily.
Photographs of Rachel.
Photographs taken through windows.
Through cracks in doors.
Even while they slept.
The realization hit everyone at once.
The masked man had not just entered that night.
He had been secretly watching them for weeks.
Maybe months.
But the nightmare was only beginning.
Because one photograph revealed something even more horrifying.
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The intruder wasn't targeting the little girl.
He was targeting her mother.
