“He must have heard you on the phone with me,” Mark had continued, his words a rushed, horrified whisper. “He turned and looked right at the camera. He knew. And then he… he smiled.” Mark had shuddered. “That’s when I told you to get out. I saw him start to move toward the bedroom door, and I didn’t know if he was coming downstairs.”
Kayla clutched Tommy tighter, her mind reeling. Someone had been in their sanctuary, violating their most private space while she and Tommy were just downstairs. The ordinary afternoon had been a lie, a thin veneer over a lurking horror.
Before she could process it further, a sharp shout echoed from inside the house, followed by the heavy, rapid thud of footsteps moving above them. “Police! Show me your hands!” The command was muffled by walls but unmistakably urgent.
Both Kayla and Mark flinched, their bodies tensing in unison. Tommy, sensing the shift, began to whimper softly against Kayla’s shoulder. “Shhh, it’s okay, sweetie,” she murmured, her voice trembling as much from fear as from the effort to sound calm. Her eyes were fixed on the upstairs windows. A shadow passed quickly behind the curtains of their bedroom.
Then, there was a crash. The sound of something heavy falling, followed by a brief, intense scuffle. More shouts, this time clearer: “Down on the ground! Now!” Kayla held her breath. The world seemed to narrow to the open front door, a dark mouth waiting to exhale a nightmare.
A moment later, two officers emerged, flanking a man whose hands were cuffed behind his back. Kayla’s breath caught. He was dressed in plain, dark clothing—a grey sweatshirt and jeans. He was younger.
than she had somehow imagined, with an unremarkable face that looked almost bored, except for his eyes. As he was led down the porch steps, his head turned. His gaze swept across the driveway and landed directly on her. That same smile Mark described—a slow, chilling curl of the lips—appeared on his face for just a second before an officer pushed his head down and guided him into the back of a cruiser.