Chapter Three(3)
1117 Words
Kade stepped into the room, closing the door behind him with quiet caution.
Marlene backed away without realizing, her phone still clenched in her hand.
He noticed immediately.
“You’re frightened,” he said, voice softer than she’d ever heard it.
“It’s nothing,” she whispered.
He took one slow step forward. Then another.
When he reached her, he lifted a hand — hesitating — before gently brushing a tear from her cheek.
“Marlene,” he murmured, “I need you to trust me.”
Her breath caught.
His touch felt grounding, steady, warm.
So different from Joe’s cold, dismissive hands.
“I… I don’t know who to trust anymore,” she admitted.
His brows knit together with genuine concern.
“You can trust me,” he said quietly.
“In ways I can’t even explain yet.”
For a moment, neither of them moved.
The room felt too small, the silence too intimate.
Then Kade stepped back abruptly, jaw tight, as if fighting something inside himself.door behind him with quiet caution.
Marlene backed away without realizing, her phone still clenched in her hand.
He noticed immediately.
“You’re frightened,” he said, voice softer than she’d ever heard it.
“It’s nothing,” she whispered.
He took one slow step forward. Then another.
When he reached her, he lifted a hand — hesitating — before gently brushing a tear from her cheek.
“Marlene,” he murmured, “I need you to trust me.”
Her breath caught.
His touch felt grounding, steady, warm.
So different from Joe’s cold, dismissive hands.
“I… I don’t know who to trust anymore,” she admitted.
His brows knit together with genuine concern.
“You can trust me,” he said quietly.
“In ways I can’t even explain yet.”
For a moment, neither of them moved.
The room felt too small, the silence too intimate.
Then Kade stepped back abruptly, jaw tight, as if fighting something inside himself.
Kade stretched out his hand for Marlene's, without hesitating , she gave it to him and he saw the messages.
It was Kade's voice that brought Marlene back to reality before she realised what she had done.
She would never have given Kade her phone under normal circumstances.
She reached out for her phone immediately.
“Marlene” Kade called out in a gentle time, you really have to trust me. I'll find out who sent you this message by morning but just get some sleep for now.
*Sleep*
Such a simple word, yet impossibly out of reach.
He placed the phone back into her hand, his fingers brushing hers longer than they needed to.
The contact made her breath catch again — a warm spark traveling from his skin into hers, like a tiny flame threatening to spread.
“I’ll be right outside your door,” Kade said. “No one is coming near you tonight.”
Marlene swallowed hard.
Something about the way he said no one sent a shiver through her — not of fear, but of the strange, disorienting safety she felt only when he was close.
She nodded, then watched silently as he stepped out of the room and pulled the door gently shut behind him.
The moment he left, the quiet pressed in on her like a weight.
---
THIRTY MINUTES LATER
Marlene lay on her back, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling.
She turned onto her side.
Then onto her stomach.
Then onto her back again.
Her mind refused to settle.
The messages.
Kade’s warning.
The creak in the hallway.
Agnes’ frightened eyes.
Someone inside your home.
She replayed every conversation she’d had with the staff today.
Every movement.
Every glance.
The house suddenly felt full of ghosts.
She reached for her phone again, hesitating before unlocking it.
The messages sat there, glowing in the dark:
You shouldn’t trust him.
He’s lying to you.
Don’t let him stay in the house.
You’re not safe.
Her thumb hovered over the screen.
Should she reply?
Ask who they were?
But before she could type, the phone buzzed in her hand — making her jolt upright.
Another message.
“He’s outside your door, isn’t he?”
A chill washed over her.
How did they know?
“How…” she whispered to herself, staring at the screen, heart pounding against her ribs.
Another message arrived instantly:
“Don’t make a sound.”
Marlene’s breath stopped.
“And whatever you do… do not open the door.”
Her trembling hand rose to her mouth.
Slowly… very slowly… she turned toward the door.
A shadow moved under it.
Not pacing — standing still.
Unmoving.
Watching.
Her chest tightened.
“Kade?” she whispered, barely audible.
No answer.
The shadow didn’t move.
She stared at it, frozen, unable to look away.
Two seconds.
Five seconds.
A full minute.
Still no movement.
Her phone buzzed again.
“He’s not who you think he is.”
Marlene’s heartbeat roared in her ears.
Her fingers shook so violently she could barely hold the phone as the next message appeared.
“Open your curtains.”
She blinked.
Why the curtains?
Her instincts screamed not to.
But something inside her — desperation, fear, curiosity — pushed her to her feet.
She tiptoed toward the window, careful not to make a sound.
With trembling hands, she pulled the curtains apart just enough to peek outside.
Then her breath caught.
Standing across the driveway, half-hidden behind a large palm tree, was a figure.
Dark clothes.
Still.
Waiting.
Watching her window.
Her stomach sank.
The phone buzzed in her palm again.
“I can see you.”
Marlene stumbled backward from the window, dropping her phone onto the bed as panic clawed at her chest.
What was happening?
Who was communicating with her?
And how were they so close?
Her eyes darted back to the door.
The shadow was gone.
Silence filled the hallway outside, thick as fog.
Her breath trembled as she whispered, “Kade…?”
Still no answer.
Her heart hammered harder.
Another sound — soft, like a whisper of fabric sliding across wood — pressed against her door from the outside.
And then—
Three slow knocks.
Not loud.
Not aggressive.
But deliberate.
Tap…
Tap…
Tap…
Marlene froze.
Her body screamed for her to call Kade.
To shout.
To run.
To lock herself in the bathroom.
But fear rooted her in place.
The knocks came again, a little louder this time.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Marlene couldn’t breathe.
Her voice cracked as she whispered, “Kade…?”
Silence.
Just as she reached for her phone, a final message lit up the screen:
“Please don’t open that door.
It’s not him.”
- Writer
