“What?”
She grabbed his wrist.
“You died that night. Twenty years ago. In the basement.”
Daniel shook his head violently.
“No! I’m right here!”
Emily began to scream.
“The thing that came out of the box took your place! It has been living your life! It has been pretending to be you!”
Suddenly, the cemetery lights flickered.
Emily looked behind him.
Her expression changed from fear to pure terror.
“Oh no,” she whispered.
Daniel turned around.
A man stood beside his father’s grave.
Same height.
Same clothes.
Same face.
It was Daniel.
The other Daniel smiled.
“Thank you, Emily,” he said. “I’ve been looking for you.”
Emily screamed and tried to run.
But the other Daniel raised one hand.
She froze in place.
He looked at the real Daniel.
“You were never supposed to remember.”
Then he walked toward him.
And Daniel noticed something horrifying.
The other Daniel had no reflection in the puddles beneath his feet.
The real Daniel looked down.
His own reflection was missing, too.
The other Daniel stopped inches from his face.
“You want to know what happened that night?”
Daniel couldn’t move.
The other Daniel leaned close and whispered:
“Your father didn’t open the box, Daniel.”
A pause.
“Your father put you inside it.”
Then everything went black.
—
THE NEXT MORNING
A police officer arrived at the cemetery after receiving an anonymous phone call.
He found an open grave beneath the dead oak tree.
Inside were two bodies.
An adult man.
And a little girl wearing a blue dress.
The officer called for backup.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A frightened voice whispered:
“Officer, please. You have to help me. I’m trapped inside a box.”
The officer looked down into the grave.
The adult man’s eyes suddenly opened.
He grabbed the officer’s wrist.
And whispered:
“Don’t let him out.”
Behind the officer, a little boy began to laugh.
The officer slowly turned around.
A seven-year-old boy stood beside the cemetery gate.
He looked exactly like the man in the grave.
The boy smiled.
Then he asked:
“Excuse me, sir… Have you seen my sister?”
TO BE CONTINUED…
