Chapter 5 - The Reflection
Mark spun around, his heart leaping into his throat as a cold draft snuffed out the beam of his flashlight, plunging the hidden tunnel into absolute darkness.
"Mark!" Elena screamed from the top of the basement stairs. "Mark, get out of there right now! Look at the kitchen monitor!"
Panic surged through Mark's veins. He fumbled with the power button of the heavy flashlight, striking the casing against his palm until the LED bulb flickered back to life, casting a harsh, jittery light down the narrow corridor. The space was completely empty. The girl in the white dress had vanished into thin air, leaving behind only the faint rustle of dry leaves near the ventilation grate.
Mark backed out of the crawl space, his chest heaving as he scrambled over the splintered plywood and bolted up the concrete stairs two at a time. He slammed the basement door behind him, throwing the heavy deadbolt into place with a resounding metallic clang.
Elena was standing by the dining table, her face deathly pale as she pointed a shaking finger at the television screen. "Look at the kitchen camera, Mark. Right now."
Mark turned his gaze to the monitor. The split-screen display showed multiple angles of the ground floor. In the bottom-right corner, the kitchen camera captured the empty dining room table where Mia had been sitting just moments before.
Except Mia wasn't sitting there anymore.
Mark froze, his blood running cold. The chair was empty. But standing right beside it, bathed in the pale green glow of the night-vision lens, was one of the girls in the white dress—and she was holding Mia’s stuffed toy rabbit in her small, outstretched hand.
"Mia?" Mark shouted, spinning around in the dining room. "Mia, where are you?!"
Elena began to sob openly, her hands covering her face as she pointed toward the hallway leading to the front door. The heavy front door, which Mark had locked securely before going to bed, was now standing wide open, letting in the cold night wind.
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And lying squarely on the welcome mat just outside the open door was Mia’s stuffed rabbit, its cotton stuffing spilling out onto the porch.
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