Chapter 2 - THE SOUND IN THE WALL
“Mom?”
Noah tore away from Vanessa and ran.
“Noah, stop!”
Vanessa grabbed for him, but Lily bit her hand.
Vanessa screamed.
“You little animal!”
Noah pulled Lily into the hallway.
The scream came again.
Fainter now.
From inside the walls.
“Help me!”
Noah’s blood turned cold.
It was his mother’s voice.
He would have known it anywhere.
They raced down the second-floor corridor toward the old east wing.
That part of the mansion had been closed since the fire.
Their father said the smoke damage made it unsafe.
Vanessa said rats lived there.
Noah suddenly understood why she never allowed the children near it.
At the end of the hall stood a tall painting of their grandfather.
Lily stopped.
“There.”
“What?”
“The knocking always comes from behind him.”
Noah grabbed the frame.
It barely moved.
He pulled harder.
Nothing.
Vanessa’s footsteps thundered behind them.
“Noah Bennett, don’t you dare!”
He rammed his shoulder into the painting.
The frame swung outward.
A narrow black doorway appeared behind it.
Lily gasped.
Noah grabbed her hand.
They slipped inside.
The painting slammed shut behind them.
Darkness swallowed them.
“Noah?”
“I’m here.”
He switched on his phone light.
A narrow staircase descended between the walls.
Old pipes ran above their heads.
Dust coated everything.
Except the floor.
The floor had fresh footprints.
Someone used this passage.
Recently.
They hurried down.
Behind them, Vanessa pounded on the hidden door.
“Come back here!”
Lily squeezed Noah’s hand.
“What if she catches us?”
“She won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
He looked at his little sister.
“But I know Mom’s down here.”
They reached another passage.
Then another.
The mansion was hollow.
There were entire hallways between rooms Noah had never known existed.
Halfway down the corridor, they found a metal cart.
Medical gloves.
Empty syringes.
Food wrappers.
And a small silver hair clip.
Noah picked it up.
His chest tightened.
Their mother used to wear it every morning.
Lily touched it with trembling fingers.
“She’s really here.”
A weak sound came from behind a steel door.
“Noah…”
He ran to it.
“Mom!”
“Noah?”
The voice was broken.
Barely human.
But it was her.
He grabbed the handle.
Locked.
“Mom, it’s me! I’m here!”
A sob came from the other side.
“Oh God… baby…”
Lily pressed both hands to the door.
“Mommy?”
Their mother started crying.
“My Lily…”
Then footsteps approached from behind them.
Noah turned.
Not Vanessa.
A man in a white medical coat stood at the far end of the corridor.
Dr. Pierce.
The family doctor.
The man who had prescribed Lily stronger medication.
He stared at the children.
May you like
Then slowly removed a syringe from his pocket.
“You two should never have come down here.”
