The foyer of the large suburban house was heavy with an unsettling silence that made seven-year-old Lily clutch her father's faded denim shirt. She yanked the fabric hard, her knuckles turning white, pulling Daniel toward the dark space beneath the main staircase. Her eyes were wide with a mixture of terror and urgency, darting constantly toward the far end of the hallway.

Lily: Daddy, come on! You have to look inside right now!

Daniel: Lily, sweetie, calm down. What are you talking about?

Evelyn: Daniel, please don't indulge her nonsense. She is just having another nightmare.

Daniel turned his head to look at Evelyn, his wife of only six months, who stood stiffly by the entrance, her hands clasped tightly together. Her face was pale, and a fine coat of sweat glistened on her forehead despite the cool autumn air inside the house. Something about her defensive posture made Daniel's stomach drop instantly.

Daniel: She’s terrified, Evelyn. She hasn't slept properly in weeks.

Evelyn: She’s making up stories to get attention because she still misses her mother!

Lily: I am not lying! She trapped her in there!

Lily yanked him harder, practically dragging him toward the small storage cupboard tucked under the stairwell. Daniel opened the louvered wooden door, stepping into the cramped space expecting to find old coat racks and cardboard boxes. Instead, his eyes landed on a freshly plastered drywall that sealed off the entire back portion of the closet, the grey compound still damp around the fresh seams.

Lily: Dad, that's where the lady is!

Daniel: Evelyn... what is this wall doing inside my coat closet?

Evelyn: I... I had a contractor fix a structural leak while you were on your business trip last week!

Daniel: You sealed off twenty square feet of space for a leak?

Lily: She lied, Daddy! I heard knocking from inside last night!

Daniel: Get me my heavy tool bag from the garage right now.

Evelyn: Daniel, stop! Don't you dare ruin this house over a child's hallucination!

Daniel ignored his wife's hysterical voice and grabbed a heavy steel hammer from his workbench. He marched back to the closet, raised the hammer high, and smashed it into the fresh drywall with all his strength, revealing a dark, cavernous void behind the plaster that smelled faintly of copper and old dust.

Daniel: Can you hear me? Is anyone in there?

Evelyn: Daniel, please, put the hammer down!

Daniel: Who is this?!

Daniel angled his flashlight into the hole, expecting empty insulation, but the beam illuminated a pair of terrified human eyes staring back at him from the darkness.

Daniel: Daniel?