I reached the panel to my room, crawled out, closed it, and pushed the wardrobe against the wall….-HONGNGOC

He walked toward the wall.

The wall next to the wardrobe.

He ran his fingers along it, like someone who knows exactly where the seam of something hidden is.

He pressed.

A small click echoed in the darkness.

The wall… moved.

It wasn’t a normal door.

It was a panel.

A section of wood identical to the wall, so perfectly concealed that in all my years living there I had never noticed it.

Daniel pushed the panel and a narrow gap appeared, just wide enough for a thin person to pass through.

Beyond it there was no wall.

There was space.

A narrow, dark passageway that smelled of dampness and dust.

Daniel stepped inside.

Before closing it, he whispered something… as if speaking to someone in there.

“She’s asleep.”

The panel closed.

I lay frozen in bed.

My head was buzzing.

Suddenly, the house was no longer a house.

It was a stage full of traps.

A body full of hidden organs.

I sat up abruptly, trembling. The bed creaked softly.

I froze, waiting for him to return.

Nothing.

Only a distant sound… like something being dragged beneath my feet.