Amanda could not move.
The boy's voice came again from behind the concrete wall, quieter this time, almost uncertain. “Amanda?”
Tyler's hand tightened around hers. Reyes raised his flashlight toward the wall while Evan stepped closer, examining the seams between the concrete blocks. Claire had gone completely still. Lily stared at the wall with tears running silently down her cheeks.
“You know him,” Amanda whispered.
Lily nodded.
“He knows my name.”
“You talked to him before,” Lily said.
Amanda's heart pounded. “When?”
“Before the house.”
That answer made no sense, yet somehow it felt familiar. Amanda placed her palm against the wall.
“I'm here,” she said. “Can you hear me?”
A pause.
Then three knocks.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Tyler looked at Reyes. “There's a room back there.”
“There shouldn't be,” Reyes replied.
Evan gave him a grim look. “There shouldn't be a lot of things in this house.”
Amanda ran her fingers across the concrete. One section felt colder than the rest. She pressed harder and felt a faint vibration beneath her palm.
“There,” she said.
Evan brought his flashlight closer. A narrow metal plate had been painted the same gray as the wall. At its center was a small circular indentation.
Amanda stared at it.
The black-stone ring in her memory.
The hidden latch.
She reached toward the indentation.
“Wait,” Reyes warned.
Amanda stopped.
A voice came through the wall.
“Don't use the key.”
Amanda pulled her hand back.
Tyler looked at her. “What key?”
Evan's face changed.
“The old house key.”
Amanda remembered the key Tyler had carried from his father. It had opened the locker at Station 19. It had also been connected to the blue house from the beginning.
Tyler pulled it from his pocket.
The boy spoke again.
“Not that one.”
Tyler looked down at the key.
“Then what?”
A long silence followed.
“Your father's.”
Tyler's eyes widened.
“My father is dead.”
“I know.”
The voice sounded strangely calm.
“He left it for you.”
Amanda looked at Evan. “Do you have it?”
Evan shook his head.
Claire suddenly reached inside her coat.
Everyone turned.
She pulled out a small brass key.
Amanda recognized it immediately.
The same shape.
The same worn teeth.
Claire's voice trembled. “Daniel gave this to me six years ago.”
Tyler stared at her. “Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
Claire looked at the wall.
“Of opening this door.”
She inserted the key.
Nothing happened.
Then Lily stepped forward.
She touched Claire's hand.
“Turn it twice.”
Claire did.
A heavy mechanism clicked inside the wall.
The concrete panel shifted inward.
Cold air poured into the room.
Beyond it was a narrow passage illuminated by a single dim bulb.
Amanda could hear breathing.
A child stepped into view.
He was taller than Lily, perhaps eleven or twelve. His dark hair fell across his forehead, and his clothes looked old-fashioned, as though he had been wearing the same carefully preserved outfit for years.
His eyes fixed on Amanda.
“You came back.”
Amanda swallowed.
“I've never met you.”
The boy smiled sadly.
“Yes, you have.”
Tyler moved closer.
The boy looked at him.
“You were the firefighter.”
Tyler's face tightened. “From the warehouse?”
The boy nodded.
“I saw you.”
Amanda crouched to his height.
“What is your name?”
The boy hesitated.
Then he said, “Michael.”
Evan's face went white.
“Michael?”
The boy nodded.
Amanda turned toward Evan. “You know him.”
Evan stared at the child as though he were looking at a ghost.
“That's impossible.”
Michael frowned. “Why?”
Evan's voice broke.
“Because Michael died.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Tyler looked between them.
“Who is he?”
Evan stepped toward the boy.
“I thought you were gone.”
Michael backed away.
“You told them I was dead.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“You left me here.”
Evan stopped.
Amanda looked at him. “You left him?”
Evan's eyes filled with tears.
“I left him because Daniel told me to.”
Michael's expression hardened.
“Daniel told you to come back.”
“I tried.”
“You didn't.”
Amanda stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Michael looked at her.
“You're the one he trusted.”
“Who?”
“Daniel.”
The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded photograph.
Amanda opened it.
It showed the blue house.
Daniel stood on the porch.
Beside him was Amanda.
But she was younger.
And beside her stood Michael.
Amanda's breath caught.
On the back of the photograph was a date.
Six years ago.
Then another line.
SHE REMEMBERS HIM WHEN SHE SLEEPS.
Amanda looked at Michael.
“What does that mean?”
Michael shook his head.
“You don't remember yet.”
A sudden sound came from upstairs.
A door slammed.
Reyes raised his weapon.
Evan moved toward the stairs.
“We're not alone.”
Lily grabbed Amanda's sleeve.
“That's what happened before.”
“What happened?”
“The people came.”
Amanda looked at Michael.
He had gone pale.
“How many?”
Michael whispered, “Four.”
Then the lights in the passage went out.
PART 33 END
Click here to continue reading: PART 34: THE FOURTH FACE:
I Arrived With Balloons and Cake, Expecting My Husband to Laugh—Instead His Entire Crew Went Silent When They Saw Me
Part 33 of 40
