Chapter 4 - The Boy Behind The Door
The bedroom door moved slowly.
Not opened.
Moved.
Like someone on the other side was deciding whether to step out.
I grabbed Chloe’s hand.
"Don’t move."
She didn’t answer.
She couldn’t.
Her eyes were fixed on that door.
The same door I had walked past hundreds of times since moving into this apartment.
The same door I had closed every night without thinking.
Now it felt like something completely different.
Like it had been hiding a part of my life I never knew existed.
The photo was still in my hand.
A picture taken from inside my apartment.
A picture showing someone standing behind my curtain.
Someone who had been watching me.
Watching Chloe.
Watching everything.
I looked at the bedroom door again.
The handle slowly turned.
Then stopped.
My entire body tensed.
"Marcus..."
Chloe whispered my name.
Not loudly.
Not like she needed help.
Like she was warning me.
I looked down at her.
"What?"
She swallowed.
"Don’t open it."
I stared at her.
"Why?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Because last time..."
She stopped.
"Last time what?"
She shook her head.
"I don't remember."
That answer scared me more than if she had said she did.
Because children don’t forget things like that.
Not things that make them afraid.
I moved Chloe behind me.
Then I reached toward the door.
My hand was inches away from the handle when my phone vibrated.
I looked down.
Another message.
Unknown number.
This time, it was a photo.
My finger froze above the screen.
I opened it.
It was a picture of my bedroom.
Taken from inside.
The angle was impossible.
The person taking it was standing beside the bed.
The caption underneath was only three words.
"He is awake."
I felt my chest tighten.
I looked at the door.
Someone was inside my bedroom.
Someone had been inside my apartment.
And they were still there.
I stepped back.
The bedroom door suddenly stopped moving.
Silence.
Then a small voice came from inside.
"Uncle Marcus?"
I froze.
Because it wasn't an adult voice.
It was a child.
Chloe grabbed my arm.
Her nails pressed into my skin.
"That’s him."
I looked at her.
"What?"
Her lips trembled.
"Liam."
The name echoed in my head.
The boy who wasn't supposed to exist.
The boy my sister had hidden.
The boy whose bracelet Chloe carried.
I stared at the closed door.
"Liam?"
A small voice answered.
"Marcus?"
My heart stopped.
He knew my name.
I didn’t know what to do.
Every instinct told me to leave.
But there was a child inside that room.
A child who sounded scared.
I slowly reached for the handle.
"Wait."
Chloe’s voice stopped me.
I looked back.
She was crying.
"He can't see me."
I frowned.
"Why?"
She looked toward the door.
"Because if he knows I’m here, she will come."
"Who?"
But before Chloe answered, the bedroom door suddenly opened.
Only an inch.
Enough for darkness.
Enough for someone to be standing there.
I moved in front of Chloe.
"Who’s there?"
No answer.
Then something slid across the floor.
A small object.
It stopped near my foot.
I looked down.
A toy car.
Old.
Dirty.
With a missing wheel.
I picked it up.
On the bottom was written:
"Liam Parker."
My hands went cold.
Parker.
The last name Chloe had.
The last name Sarah had.
The name I never knew belonged to another child.
I looked into the room.
"Where are you?"
A small voice answered.
"Under the bed."
I stared.
"Why are you hiding?"
Silence.
Then:
"Because she said Uncle Marcus wasn't safe."
My blood went cold.
"Who said that?"
The child didn’t answer.
Instead, a phone began ringing.
Not mine.
Not Chloe’s.
From inside the bedroom.
I slowly stepped closer.
The ringing stopped.
Then a recording played.
A woman’s voice.
Sarah’s voice.
"Marcus, if you found this, then I failed."
I stopped breathing.
The voice continued.
"I wanted to tell you the truth."
The bedroom suddenly felt smaller.
"I wanted to protect Chloe."
A pause.
Then Sarah whispered:
"But I couldn't protect Liam."
Chloe covered her mouth.
Tears rolled down her face.
I looked back at her.
She was hearing this for the first time.
The recording continued.
"Marcus, don't trust Rachel."
My eyes moved toward the front door.
The woman outside.
The woman who knew my name.
The woman who said Sarah was lying.
"She will tell you Liam disappeared because of me."
The recording paused.
Then Sarah said something that made my stomach twist.
"But the truth is..."
A loud noise interrupted the recording.
A crash.
Someone shouting.
Then the recording ended.
The apartment became silent again.
I looked at Chloe.
"Your mom recorded that?"
She nodded slowly.
"She told me not to listen."
"Why?"
"Because she said bad people might hear."
I looked around.
The apartment.
The hidden closet.
The bedroom.
The messages.
Everything was connected.
But one question kept burning in my mind.
Where had Liam been all this time?
I stepped toward the bedroom.
"Liam."
No answer.
"Liam, I’m not going to hurt you."
A small movement.
Then a boy slowly crawled out from underneath the bed.
He looked about seven years old.
Thin.
Pale.
His hair was messy.
He wore an old gray sweatshirt that looked too small for him.
But the thing that shocked me wasn't his appearance.
It was his eyes.
Because he looked at Chloe like he had been waiting years to see her again.
"Chloe."
She broke down.
"Liam."
For several seconds, neither of them moved.
Then Chloe ran toward him.
The two children hugged.
And I stood there completely frozen.
Because I finally understood.
The secret wasn't that Liam was gone.
The secret was that he had been here.
The whole time.
I crouched down.
"Liam, what happened?"
The boy looked at me.
Then at the bedroom door.
Fear returned to his face.
"She can't know I'm here."
"Rachel?"
He shook his head.
"No."
"Then who?"
His voice became smaller.
"Mom."
I froze.
"Your mom?"
He nodded.
"She told me to hide."
I didn’t understand.
"Why would Sarah hide you?"
He looked down.
"Because she was scared."
"Of who?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he reached into his sweatshirt pocket.
He pulled out a small folded paper.
"I was supposed to give this to someone who would believe me."
I took it.
The paper was old.
The handwriting was messy.
Like a child had written it while shaking.
There were only two sentences.
"Mom didn't hurt me."
"She was protecting me from Dad."
I looked at Liam.
"Your dad?"
He nodded.
Then he whispered:
"He found us."
Before I could ask anything else, there was a loud crash from the front door.
Someone had forced the lock.
Chloe screamed.
Liam grabbed her hand.
And for the first time, I saw the fear in his eyes.
Not fear of being discovered.
Fear of who was coming.
I grabbed the children and moved them toward the bedroom.
The door shook.
Once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
Everything became silent.
Too silent.
My phone vibrated.
A new message appeared.
From Sarah.
But Sarah had never sent it.
The message only said:
"Marcus, don't let him see the children."
May you like
Then the bedroom door behind me slowly opened.
And a man’s voice whispered my name.
