I reached the panel to my room, crawled out, closed it, and pushed the wardrobe against the wall….-HONGNGOC

He smiled.

“Good night, little sister.”

I heard his footsteps moving away.

Slow.

Unhurried.

As if he knew exactly what time everything was supposed to happen.

I waited.

Five minutes.

Ten.

Fifteen.

I stayed completely still, controlling my breathing, until the silence began to feel “safe”… though in that house nothing was truly safe; it only pretended to be.

Exactly at nine o’clock, as if the clock itself were an accomplice, I heard the first creak in the hallway.

Then another.

Footsteps. Daniel was coming.

I lay on my side in bed, as always. I let one arm hang slightly off the mattress, as if I were asleep. I opened my eyes just a sliver.

My heart was beating so hard I was sure he could hear it.

The door opened without anyone pushing it. Daniel had left it ajar earlier, and now he slipped inside.

He wasn’t carrying the cup.

He was carrying a key.

A black, old, long key with strange teeth—the kind used for very old houses… or for doors that were never meant to be opened.

He walked to the nightstand, opened the bottom drawer, and took out something wrapped in cloth. He unwrapped it slowly.

A small glass vial.

Inside were white pills.

My throat went dry.