Chapter 2 - Echoes in the Attic
"Mark, don't you dare walk down that hallway alone," Elena said, her voice shaking violently as she grabbed his forearm.
Mark pulled away, his jaw set in stubborn disbelief. "Someone is playing a sick prank on us. A drone, a projection, I don't know—but I'm going to find out who's messing with my family." He grabbed the heavy brass flashlight from the sideboard, its cold metal grounding him against the rising panic.
Mia stayed frozen in her chair, her tear-streaked face illuminated by the eerie glow of the television screen. "They aren't outside, Daddy. They're coming up from the basement stairs, not the front door."
Mark stopped dead in his tracks, turning back toward his daughter. "What did you just say? You told me to check the upstairs hallway."
"I said they walked through the house, but they started downstairs," Mia whispered, her small fingers digging into the cotton stuffing of her toy rabbit. "They live in the crawl space behind the pantry."
Elena let out a sharp cry, her eyes darting toward the kitchen archway. "That's impossible. We had the entire foundation sealed when we bought this place two years ago. No one could live down there."
"Go look at the basement door," Mia pleaded, her voice dropping to a fragile whisper. "The lock is open."
Mark stared at his daughter, a cold sweat breaking out across the back of his neck. He remembered locking that heavy deadbolt himself just before going to bed. Slowly, he turned his flashlight on, the sharp beam cutting through the dim shadows of the dining room. He took a hesitant step toward the kitchen, every instinct screaming at him to turn back. The house groaned, settling in the chill of the night, but the sound of faint breathing drifted up from the floorboards beneath his feet.
May you like
Mark reached the kitchen threshold and froze, his flashlight beam illuminating the basement door standing wide open.
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