Chapter 2 - The Stranger at the Hospital Knew My Name, but He Wasn't Trying to Take the Babies—He Was Trying to Make Sure the Police Never Read the Rest of Mom's LetterThe hospital went dark for twenty seconds.
Twenty seconds can feel like twenty years when you're seven.
I heard footsteps.
A chair scrape.
Someone whispering.
Then the emergency lights came on.
Red.
Everything looked wrong beneath the red lights.
The detective was still standing beside my bed.
His hand was on his weapon.
“Stay behind me.”
I nodded.
The twins were in another room.
I could hear monitors beeping down the hall.
Then someone shouted.
“Security!”
Footsteps ran.
A crash.
Glass shattered.
The detective pushed me beneath the bed.
“Don't move.”
I held my breath.
A shadow crossed the doorway.
Black shoes.
A long coat.
The man stopped.
For a second, I thought he'd see me.
Then another officer shouted from the hallway.
The shadow disappeared.
The detective pulled me out.
“Are you hurt?”
I shook my head.
“Where did he go?”
“Gone.”
He immediately checked the corridor.
The emergency system came back online.
Doctors rushed around.
The twins were safe.
But the man's disappearance wasn't the only problem.
The detective returned carrying the envelope.
“Your mother's letter.”
He looked angry.
“What happened?”
“Someone removed a page.”
I stared.
“What page?”
“The last one.”
I looked at the remaining pages.
The sentence about the man coming for me ended abruptly.
The next page was missing.
“Who took it?”
“We don't know.”
Then the detective studied me.
“Amelia, did your mother ever tell you about someone named Marcus?”
I frowned.
“No.”
“Daniel?”
“No.”
“Elias?”
I shook my head.
Then I remembered.
“Mr. Bell.”
The detective froze.
“Who?”
“He used to visit Mom.”
“Describe him.”
“Tall.”
“Anything else?”
“He gave her envelopes.”
“Did he drive the black car?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
“The man in the photo.”
The detective looked toward the hallway.
“What did your mother say about him?”
“She said he was dangerous.”
“Did she say his name?”
I thought.
Maybe.
Mom had whispered it once.
When I was pretending to sleep.
“Voss.”
The detective went completely still.
“What?”
“That's what she called him.”
He exchanged a look with the other officer.
I didn't understand.
Then the nurse came running.
“The twins are crashing.”
The detective ran.
I followed.
The babies' monitors were screaming.
Doctors moved quickly.
One baby was pale.
The other was struggling to breathe.
I started crying.
“Please save them.”
A doctor pushed me back.
“Stay here.”
I watched through the glass.
Then something strange happened.
A man walked into the neonatal hallway.
No badge.
No uniform.
He simply walked.
Security approached him.
The man raised a hand.
“I'm family.”
The guard checked his phone.
Then suddenly stepped away.
I stared.
The man looked directly at me through the glass.
It was him.
The man from the photograph.
He smiled.
Then mouthed one word.
Amelia.
The detective rushed toward him.
The man turned and disappeared through a service door.
By the time police opened it, the hallway was empty.
But he had left something behind.
An old brass key.
The detective picked it up.
I recognized it immediately.
It belonged to Mom.
She kept it hidden beneath her mattress.
I looked at the detective.
“That key opens something.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
But deep inside, I remembered Mom's words.
If I can't wake up, there is one place you must never go.
She had never told me where.
Maybe she had assumed I'd be too young to remember.
She was wrong.
I remembered.
The key opened the shed behind our house.
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And whoever had just entered the hospital had Mom's key.
Which meant they had already been inside our home.
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