Page 19

“Hello?”

Nothing.

Just breathing—slow, too close.

My grip tightened. “Who is this?”

The breath shifted into a melody.

A lullaby.

The same one I used to sing to myself when I couldn’t sleep.

My stomach dropped. My knees buckled. Everything inside me sank.

It wasn’t possible.

The voice on the line was warped like it had been pulled from underwater—muffled, twisted. But it washim.

“Missed me, little sister?”

Click.

Silence.

It was his voice. Itwashim.

But the line had gone dead. The silence that followed felt louder than the ring.

The phone slipped from my hand. My heart thundered in my chest. I pressed my hands to my face, trying to wake myself up. Trying to figure out if this was a nightmare or if I was still somehow awake.

Then I heard footsteps above me. Running. Then… crawling.

I turned, breath catching, and ran for the stairs. Every step was a betrayal—my legs stumbling, my balance tipping. Fear made my body disobey. I didn’t know if it was him. Or if something else had come in his shape to haunt me.

A sudden gust of air brushed my back like it was pointing.

Toward the bathroom.

I didn’t want to go. But something pulled me.

The door was ajar.

I stepped slowly to the right, peeking through the narrow crack. And there, lying on the floor tiles, was a doll. One of those old ones—thread hair, porcelain face, cracked where one eye used to be.

Then a voice said softly. Playful.

“Come and find me…”

A giggle.

“Come and find me.”

I reached to close the door.

But the doll’s head twisted. Snapped toward me.

Itlookedat me.