CHAPTER 4: THE GIRL IN THE DARK
The scream came from upstairs.
"LILY!"
Maria's cry echoed through the darkness.
Nathaniel didn't think.
He ran.
The emergency lights flickered on, bathing the mansion in a dim red glow.
Behind him, he could hear Claire and the security guards shouting, but all he could think about was the terrified scream of a three-year-old child.
He reached the second floor.
"Lily!" he shouted.
No answer.
The hallway was empty.
Then—
A soft whimper.
From the nursery.
Nathaniel froze.
The yellow room.
The door stood wide open.
He slowly stepped inside.
"Lily?"
A tiny voice answered.
"I'm here."
She was sitting on the floor beside the rocking chair, hugging her stuffed rabbit.
Her little face was pale.
Nathaniel rushed to her and dropped to his knees.
"Are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
"The pretty lady woke me up."
A chill went through him.
"What pretty lady?"
"The one from before."
Nathaniel looked around the room.
It was empty.
Then Lily said something that made his heart stop.
"She told me to hide."
"Hide from whom?"
The child looked toward the door.
"The bad man."
Before Nathaniel could ask another question, footsteps thundered down the hallway.
Maria burst into the room and pulled Lily into her arms.
"Oh, thank God!"
The lights suddenly came back on.
Downstairs, someone shouted.
"Mr. Cross!"
Nathaniel ran to the staircase.
One of the guards was staring at the security monitors.
His face had gone completely white.
"You need to see this."
Nathaniel looked at the screen.
The woman outside the gate was gone.
The black SUV had disappeared.
But another image had appeared on the monitor.
A recording.
Not live footage.
A video file.
No one knew how it got there.
The timestamp read:
Three years ago.
Nathaniel's blood turned cold.
"Play it."
The guard hesitated.
"Sir…"
"PLAY IT."
The screen flickered.
Then an image appeared.
A hospital corridor.
A woman walking toward the camera.
Sarah.
Alive.
Very pregnant.
Nathaniel stopped breathing.
"Oh, my God…" Claire whispered.
Sarah looked frightened.
She kept glancing behind her.
Then she entered a hospital room.
A few seconds later, another person entered after her.
A man.
His face wasn't visible.
Only his expensive shoes and dark coat.
The footage ended.
Everyone stared at the screen.
"What is this?" Maria whispered.
The security guard looked terrified.
"It gets worse."
He clicked another file.
The date was the same.
The screen showed a parking lot outside the hospital.
A black SUV.
The same model that had just been outside the mansion.
Then…
Sarah appeared.
She was holding something wrapped in a pink blanket.
A baby.
Nathaniel's knees nearly gave out.
"No…"
Sarah looked directly into the camera.
She was crying.
Then she handed the baby to someone standing beside the SUV.
A woman.
Her face hidden by the hood of her coat.
The footage froze.
Silence.
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Nathaniel stared at the image.
A baby.
His baby.
Alive.
Then the screen changed by itself.
Another video started.
This one was only ten seconds long.
The date:
The day Sarah died.
A road covered in snow.
A truck.
A blue sedan.
Sarah's car.
The truck slammed into it.
The video ended.
Then six words appeared on the black screen.
SHE WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO DIE.
Maria covered her mouth.
Claire began to cry.
Nathaniel couldn't move.
Someone had sent these videos.
Someone wanted him to know the truth.
The baby survived.
The accident wasn't an accident.
And Sarah had been trying to protect their daughter.
Then—
The mansion telephone rang.
Everyone jumped.
It rang again.
And again.
Nathaniel slowly picked it up.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then a woman's voice.
Soft.
Cold.
Familiar.
"Hello, Nathaniel."
He nearly dropped the phone.
Because he knew that voice.
"Sarah?"
A soft laugh came through the receiver.
"No."
His blood ran cold.
"Who is this?"
The woman ignored the question.
"Did you enjoy the videos?"
"What do you want?"
A long pause.
Then she said:
"I've been waiting three years for this conversation."
"Who are you?"
"You should ask a different question."
Silence.
"What question?"
The woman's voice turned almost gentle.
"Ask me where your daughter is."
The room spun.
Nathaniel gripped the table.
"Where is she?"
Another pause.
Then:
"Very close."
"Who are you?"
The woman laughed softly.
"You really don't recognize my voice?"
He closed his eyes.
Something about it felt familiar.
Painfully familiar.
Then she whispered:
"I held your daughter before you ever did."
Nathaniel's eyes flew open.
Impossible.
The hospital.
The baby.
The woman in the video.
The voice…
Claire suddenly gasped.
"Oh, my God…"
Nathaniel looked at her.
She had gone completely pale.
"Claire?"
Tears filled her eyes.
"No… no… it can't be."
"What?"
She slowly looked up at him.
"I know who she is."
The room became silent.
Nathaniel's voice was barely a whisper.
"Who?"
Claire's lips trembled.
Then she said the name.
And the world stopped.
"Your sister."
Silence.
Dead silence.
Nathaniel stared at her.
"No."
Claire nodded, crying.
"Emily."
"No."
"She never died in that fire."
"No!"
"She survived."
The phone crackled.
Then the woman laughed.
A laugh filled with years of bitterness.
"Hello, brother."
The receiver slipped from Nathaniel's hand.
And on the staircase behind him…
May you like
little Lily suddenly whispered:
"The pretty lady says she's coming home tonight."
