Chapter 1
I opened my sister’s refrigerator looking for a bottle of water—and heard a tiny voice whisper, “Please don’t close the door again.”
My name is Sarah, and I drove to my sister Megan’s house outside Dallas after she stopped answering my calls.
Her front door was unlocked.
“Megan?”
No answer.
The living room looked normal, but the house was strangely quiet.
Then I heard a faint knocking from the kitchen.
At first, I thought it was the pipes.
Then it came again.
Three weak knocks.
I followed the sound to the refrigerator.
My hand froze on the handle.
“Is someone there?”
A child whispered from inside.
“Please help me.”
I yanked the door open.
My seven-year-old nephew, Noah, was curled inside the empty lower compartment, shaking and crying.
“Oh my God, Noah!”
I pulled him out and wrapped my arms around him.
He grabbed my shirt like he was terrified I might disappear.
“Who put you in there?”
Noah wouldn't answer.
He just stared toward the hallway.
Then I heard footsteps upstairs.
I reached for my phone.
Noah suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“No, Aunt Sarah.”
“Why?”
His voice dropped to a whisper.
“She said she'd hurt Mom if I told.”
My stomach turned.
“Who said that?”
Before he could answer, my sister appeared at the top of the stairs.
Her face changed when she saw Noah in my arms.
“Sarah, you need to leave.”
I stared at her.
“Megan, somebody locked your son inside a refrigerator.”
“I know.”
Those two words stopped me cold.
Then a bedroom door opened behind her.
A woman I had never seen before stepped into the hallway.
Noah immediately buried his face against me.
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And my sister whispered, “That's not the person you should be afraid of.”
Then someone behind me locked the front door.
