Staring at the chair.
My blood ran cold.
All my instincts were screaming at me to grab the girls and run.
Then, suddenly…
I heard the front door upstairs slam shut.
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Daniel.
Home early.
Heavy footsteps echoed in the kitchen above us.
Then it stopped completely.
Silence.
A terrible silence.
“Girls?” he asked calmly.
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The girls perked up immediately.
“We’re in Mom’s room!” Emily shouted happily.
The footsteps upstairs froze.
For a long moment, nothing moved.
Then—
slowly—
The basement door slammed shut upstairs.
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And I heard the lock click.
My heart almost stopped.
Daniel’s footsteps began to descend the basement stairs one by one.
No rush.
He checked.
By the time he emerged, his expression had completely changed.
I’m not angry.
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Worse.
Disappointed.
His eyes flickered from the unlocked door…
to the diaries in my hand…
to the girls beside me.
Then he sighed softly.
“I told you never to bring anyone down here.”
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Instinctively I took a step back.
“Daniel… what is this?”
He looked at Rebecca’s portrait and smiled faintly.
“This,” he said quietly, “is the only place where it still feels real.”
The girls looked confused now.
Because they suddenly sensed something was wrong.
Grace tugged nervously at my hand.
Daniel noticed it immediately.
And something dark flashed across his face.
“You opened the door,” he told the girls.
Emily’s lip trembled.
“We just wanted him to meet Mom.”
Daniel closed his eyes briefly, as if struggling with something inside him.
Then he looked me straight in the eye.
“You weren’t supposed to see this yet.”
Still.
That word scared me.
I tightened my grip on the girls.
“What else do you want to say?”
Daniel slowly moved closer.
“Leave me,” he whispered.
I frowned, confused.
“What?”
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