Chapter 1 - The Midnight Walk
The sprawling, modern American home was completely silent, swallowed by the heavy darkness of 2 AM. David had just arrived home from a grueling three-week overseas business trip. Exhausted and still wearing his tailored dark suit and dark blue dress shirt, he was walking quietly toward the master suite when a soft, shuffling noise caught his attention.
He stopped at the edge of the grand hallway.
There, walking slowly and deliberately across the expensive hardwood floor, was his four-year-old daughter, Lily.
She looked like a tiny, innocent ghost in the dim moonlight. She was wearing a beautiful floral dress covered by a soft pink cardigan. But it wasn't her being awake that confused David. It was what she was carrying. Gripped tightly in her small hands was a ceramic plate holding a meticulously cut peanut butter sandwich.
David frowned, his dark, exhausted eyes tracking her movements. Lily didn't walk toward the kitchen or her bedroom. Instead, she turned down the long, shadowed corridor leading to the estate's unused storage wing.
David followed quietly behind her, his expensive leather shoes making no sound.
He watched as his tiny daughter stopped dead in front of a massive, floor-to-ceiling white built-in cabinet wall. She stood there for a moment, looking at the seamless white wood.
David stepped out of the shadows, walking up behind her.
"Lily, what are you doing?" David asked, his voice low and intensely curious.
Lily didn't jump. She didn't look back at him. She just kept her eyes glued to the bottom crack of the white cabinet door.
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"She gets hungry at night," Lily whispered, her soft, innocent voice echoing chillingly in the empty hallway.
👉 David thought his daughter was talking about an imaginary friend, but what he was about to hear would freeze his blood.
