EPISODE 5:
Ava’s room felt smaller than ever. The curtains were drawn, but that didn’t stop her from feeling watched. Her mother had knocked three times that evening, asking if she was alright, if she wanted dinner, if she was hiding something.
She lied each time.
The shadow’s words lingered in her mind:
Smile at your mother tonight. Let her see your teeth. She won’t know they’re mine.
She avoided mirrors. She avoided smiling.
And she avoided her mother’s eyes.
The Rivera household was nothing like Ava’s. Here, silence pressed against the walls, broken only by the faint buzz of the television downstairs. Noah sat at the kitchen table, notebook open, but he couldn’t write.
His mother paced the living room, clutching her phone like it was the last lifeline to Lily.
Noah mom
I called her number again. Straight to voicemail.
I think… maybe she lost her phone? Maybe she’s somewhere safe, waiting for us?
Noah mom
Don’t say it, Noah. Don’t. She’s alive. She has to be alive.
Noah bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood. He knew better. He had seen the truth in the shadow’s rules. Lily wasn’t “missing.” She died,her eyes plucked out.
His father sat in the recliner, silent, staring at the muted TV. He knew too. Noah could see it in the way his father’s eyes avoided his mother’s hope.
Noah Dad
It’s late. Let it rest for tonight.
Noah mom
Rest? How do you rest when your daughter hasn’t come home in years?
Her voice cracked. She turned to Noah, desperate, searching.
Noah mom
Noah, you’re quiet. You would tell me if you knew something… wouldn’t you?
The question hit him like a knife. He tightened his grip on the notebook under the table, fingers trembling.
If he told her, she wouldn’t just cry—she would shatter. She didn’t know about the texts. About the hour. About the voice that whispered “smile.”
And if he spoke too much, the shadow might make him the next to vanish.
Noah
I don’t know anything, Mom.
I swear.
Her eyes glistened with tears. She wanted to believe him. She needed to.
His father met his gaze across the room, a silent acknowledgment: We both know. She can’t.
Ava
I can’t breathe in this house. It’s watching me.
Noah
Same here.
Mom keeps calling Lily’s phone. Dad says nothing.
It’s tearing everything apart.
Ava
It already did.
Noah… I think it’s coming back tonight.
The typing bubbles on Noah’s screen vanished, then reappeared. Ava was hesitating. He felt the same dread crawling up his spine.
Ava
If one of us disappears tonight…
Promise me you’ll tell the truth. To someone. Anyone.
Ava
I’m serious.
If it takes me… you can’t stay silent like you did with Lily.
Noah’s chest tightened. She was right. The silence was killing him more than the shadow could.
But before he could reply, both phones buzzed at once.
UNKNOWN
You told your mother nothing. Good boy.
UNKNOWN
Secrets keep you safe. For now.
Noah’s blood ran cold. His phone slipped from his hand and clattered onto the table. Across town, Ava stared at the same message glowing on her screen.
The shadow knew.
It was listening in on every word, every thought, every lie.
And worst of all—it approved
In the Rivera living room, Noah’s mother wiped her tears and whispered Lily’s name to the empty air.
She still believed her daughter was out there.
But only Noah and his father knew the truth.
And soon, Ava would too:
At 1:47 AM, hope wasn’t enough.
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