Chapter 2 - The Ghost in the Cellar
"Mark," the woman whispered, her voice raspy and broken from disuse.
Mark couldn't breathe, his hands gripping the doorframe to keep his knees from buckling.
"Evelyn?" he choked out, his mind fracturing at the impossibility standing before him. "You died. I saw the car. I identified..."
"You identified a body Vanessa's family provided," Evelyn interrupted softly, taking a slow step up the wooden stairs.
She was horrifyingly frail, her clothes hanging off her collarbones, but her eyes—Lily’s eyes—were fiercely alive.
Lily peeked out from behind Mark’s leg, her tiny hands gripping his jeans.
"Is that the wall lady, Daddy?" Lily asked, her voice barely a squeak.
Tears spilled down Evelyn’s pale cheeks as she looked at her daughter.
"Hi, my sweet girl," Evelyn sobbed, collapsing onto the stairs as her strength gave out. "I've watched you grow up through a crack in the floorboards."
Mark rushed down the steps, catching Evelyn before she could tumble backward.
Her skin was freezing, and the smell of damp earth and stale air clung to her clothes.
"How?" Mark demanded, pulling her up. "Why didn't you scream? Why didn't you bang on the door?"
"Because of what she’s holding," Evelyn said, nodding toward the small, black ledger she had clutched to her chest.
Mark looked at the leather-bound book, recognizing the gold crest of Vanessa's family on the cover.
"Vanessa told me if I ever made a sound, she would kill Lily," Evelyn explained, her voice hardening with sudden anger.
"I need to call the police back," Mark said, reaching for his phone. "They’re still at the end of the block."
Evelyn's pale hand snapped out, gripping his wrist with surprising desperation.
"No!" she gasped. "Chief Miller works for Vanessa's father. If the local cops find me alive, none of us will survive the night."
Mark stared at her, the gravity of Vanessa's final warning crashing over him.
Did you really think I was the only one watching?
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"Then what do we do?" Mark asked, feeling the walls of his own house closing in on him.
"We run," Evelyn said, pushing herself up with a grimace. "Right now."
