na

ght there, just outside my bedroom wind

ow, and I didn't even know what she looked like beyond that portrait at Richard's house but my brain was filled in the deta

working, wasn't helping, and the silence in the apartment wa

cause I didn't want Adrian knowing I was awake. He'd probably just tell me

ally know where anything was in this place. Adrian had shown me my room and the kitc

ed like an office with papers scattered across a desk. I kept going because I wasn't tired and I h

long the wall to guide me, and my fingers hit a doorfra

and look

plate near the handle wi

PH

a room, but something about seeing her name there made everything feel more real. She'

dle and tried to turn

cked it for a reason, had locked away everything that reminded him of her, and I was

on

un around so fa

nything, and he was just there in sweatpants and nothing else with his h

d my voice came out too high. "I could

from the do

I wasn't

from the do

past me to touch the wood. Not the handle, Just the door itself. His palm pressed flat against it li

ce was different now, colder than I'd ever he

ked. "What'

our concern."

t kind of is my concern and-"

ing slightly and I realized with a shock that he was scared, actually scared. "You don't go

ou're acting like there's a bo

clear,

n them that made my stomach drop, made all

t," he

re c

d there blocking the hallway like he thought I might t

ou I can'

e and pretend

hated how small my voice sounded. "I kee

sed to it." H

than I meant them to. "She died there, your wife

two ye

her? Locked up her room and mo

w was tight. "But I'm not going to spend the rest o

f because you coul

thout telling me." He ran a hand through his hair. "I told her from the beginning what this was. A business

jumped off your balcony

es

to that, didn't know how to respond to someone who could talk abou

said again. "And stay

, just close quietly like he had perfect control

ut her locked inside, or her things locked inside, or her ghost locked inside, and

metal plate, traced the lett

ed to you?"

ans

taring at the ceiling and listening to the city outside and thinking about l

hone said 3:47 AM

e is c

om outside or maybe I was finally losing my mind. But then it got louder and I sat

turned on the flashli

rer, and it was definitely a woman. Not just crying but sobbi

because I already knew where it was coming from

ia's

oming from insid

n the other side, so close, like someone was sitting on th

o?" I

opped then co

arted shaking because that wasn't normal, wasn

there?" I

th

d it was, wouldn't turn, wouldn't open, and I pulled h

?" I wh

ans

w it wasn't pipes or wind or my imagination because that was real cryi

in that room

ible, wasn't real, Sophia was dead and dead people didn't cry. Dead peopl

rying in her locked room? He'd think I was insane and maybe I was, maybe grief and stress and

st staring at that door and wait

did

way stay

n't close my eyes, didn't even try to sleep, just lay the

m inside a locked room