Chapter 16 - The Voicemail That Should Not Exist
The stillness of the house lasted exactly forty-eight hours.
Daniel had convinced himself that peace was simply the absence of noise. For two days, the air smelled like freshly brewed Colombian roast and lemon polish instead of cold sweat and dread. The security cameras flickered with benign feeds: empty hallways, the manicured lawn swaying under a gentle autumn breeze, the front porch devoid of ghosts.
Then his phone vibrated against the granite kitchen island at 2:14 AM.
The screen lit up with an unlisted number. Daniel stared at the glowing rectangle, his pulse instantly kicking against his ribs like a caged bird. In the modern world, late-night calls were rarely heralds of good news; in his world, they were harbingers of resurfacing nightmares.
He did not pick up. The screen went black.
A second later, a voice message notification pinged.
Daniel hesitated, his hand hovering over the glass. Every rational instinct told him to delete it, to block the ghost before it took shape. But fear had already stripped away his logic years ago. He pressed play, holding the receiver to his ear.
Static hissed through the speaker—low, rhythmic, like tires rolling over wet gravel.
Then, a woman’s breath caught. It wasn’t Vanessa’s manic, razor-thin register. It was softer, strained, drenched in exhaustion.
*“Daniel... don’t let her go to the park by the river. They took the second copy. He said if you won, he’d finish it himself.”*
The line went dead.
Daniel stood frozen in the dark kitchen, the phone trembling between his fingers. The voice belonged to Rachel. But Rachel was asleep five miles away in her secure apartment, curled up under clean blankets with Lily safe in the adjacent room.
He lunged for his keys, his throat tight with bile. Before he could reach the front door, his phone buzzed again. A text message from Rachel’s verified number popped onto the screen:
*“Daniel, wake up. Someone just unlocked our building’s service gate.”*
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The nightmare had not ended when the cell doors clanged shut behind Vanessa and Cole. It had merely changed shifts.
***
