Ryan: Hey! Is someone trapped inside this wall right now? Speak to me!
Lily: Daddy, don't yell at her. You're going to make her cry again like yesterday.
Ryan: Honey, go sit on the living room sofa immediately. Do not move from there.
Lily: Is Mommy going to be mad that we found her hiding spot?
Ryan: Just go to the couch, Lily! Right now!
Ryan dropped to his hands and knees, pressing his face flat against the cold hallway carpet to peer straight through the vent slats. A pair of faint, glossy blue eyes reflected the ambient hallway sunlight back at him from deep within the hollow partition space. He backed away instantly, his chest heaving as adrenaline surged through his body.
Ryan: Hey! Answer me right now! Who are you and how did you get inside my house framework?
Voice: Please don't hurt me... I'm staying quiet like she told me to...
Ryan: Who told you to stay quiet? How long have you been in there?!
Voice: The lady... she brings me water when the sun goes down...
Ryan: My wife? Are you talking about Jessica?!
Heavy footsteps echoed from the front entryway as the front door clicked shut. Jessica walked around the hallway corner holding a fresh bag of groceries, her smile instantly vanishing the moment she saw Ryan kneeling on the floor near the exposed wall vent.
Jessica: Ryan? What are you doing down on the floor like that?
Ryan: Jessica, look at me right now. Who is inside our hallway wall?
Jessica: What... what are you talking about? You're acting completely crazy.
Ryan: Don't play dumb with me! Lily was feeding a child through this vent screen!
Jessica: She has an active imagination, Ryan. She's just playing make-believe games again.
Ryan: I saw a real human hand grab a sandwich out of her fingers, Jessica!
Jessica: Ryan, stop it! You're scaring our daughter with this nonsense!
Ryan: I heard a voice answer me from inside the framing structure!
Jessica: It's just the old plumbing pipes rattling again, I promise you!
Ryan: Pipes don't speak English, Jessica! Stand back right now!
Jessica: RYAN! DON'T LOOK IN THERE!
Ignoring her desperate scream, Ryan lunged toward the drywall, grabbing the metal frame of the air vent with both hands. He yanked back with all his physical strength, ripping the metal cover directly off the wall plaster with a sharp, wrenching crunch of wood screws tearing free.
Jessica: Please, Ryan! Just stop and listen to me for one second!
Ryan: Get away from me! What the hell have you been hiding in our home?!
Jessica: It's not what you think! I was trying to protect our family estate!
Ryan: Protect us by locking a human being inside a dark utility cavity?!
Jessica: You don't understand the legal nightmare this would cause for us!
Ryan: I don't care about legal problems! There is a living child in here!
He reared back his right leg and kicked violently at the sheetrock framing beside the hole. The brittle drywall gave way under his heavy boot, caving inward with a loud crash as plaster dust erupted into the bright hallway air, filling the corridor with a thick white cloud.
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