A young man who had recently become a father grabbed his coffee mug from the kitchen counter, the steam curling around his fingers as he took a sip. The hotness of the coffee warmed his throat as he took small gulps, a comforting contrast to the cold, silent house. He walked through the long, dimly lit hallways, the shadows seeming to move with him, his footsteps echoing in a small, rhythmic beat that felt almost too loud in the stillness.

He reached his office at the fifth wooden door, the polished surface reflecting the dim light. He grabbed the cold, metal doorknob and rotated it, the creak of the hinge breaking the silence as he revealed his tidy office. The room smelled faintly of old books and wood polish. He approached his raven-black office chair, its leather creaking as he sat down and let out a deep sigh. He took another sip of his coffee, the warmth now a mere distraction from the creeping unease that had settled in his chest. He set the mug on his desk, the sound oddly loud in the quiet room.

His eyes fell on the baby monitor that sat innocuously on the desk. He decided to check on his four-month-old baby, Noah. He grabbed the monitor and pressed the "Power" button. The screen flickered to life, revealing his beautiful wife in her pajamas, looking down at Noah as she rocked him in the rocking chair. The gentle creak of the chair was almost audible through the monitor, and he smiled at the sight of his wife and son, the warmth in his chest battling the cold unease.

He opened his laptop and turned it on, the whirring of the machine filling the silence. Suddenly, his office door burst open, and his wife stormed in, her face flushed and out of breath. He turned his chair towards her, confusion and concern mingling in his eyes. "Woah, honey. What happened?"

"The door's locked--" she gasped, struggling to catch her breath.

"What door?"

"Noah's door is locked, babe. Like, it's jammed. I tried using the keys, but they won't work."

Wait a second...

He looked back at the baby monitor. There, his wife was still rocking Noah, her face serene. He looked forward again, his heart pounding. There was his wife, standing in front of his desk. How was that possible?

Suddenly, his wife in front of him began to change. Her face twisted and contorted, skin peeling and decaying before his eyes, revealing a horrendous visage. Her eyes sunk into her skull, leaving dark, hollow voids. Her body withered, becoming grotesquely thin, her bones pressing against her skin as if trying to escape. Clumps of her hair fell out, leaving her scalp patchy and bald.

The man felt his heart seize, panic gripping his chest like a vise. His breathing became shallow, the air in the room feeling heavy and suffocating. The thing that had once looked like his wife leaned on the desk, its skeletal hand reaching for the baby monitor. It grabbed the device, pointing at the screen with a bony finger. "See your actual wife and your cute baby boy? They are dead. I killed them."

It hurled the baby monitor to the floor with a force that defied its frail, skeletal frame, the device exploding into a shower of plastic and circuitry. The creature's lips twisted into a grotesque, demonic grin, revealing jagged, yellowed teeth that seemed too many for its mouth. "I wanted to add a family to my collection," it hissed, its voice a guttural rasp that sent a shiver down his spine, "but it isn't complete." It paused, the hollow voids where its eyes should have been seemed to darken, exuding a palpable sense of dread as they raked over him with a malevolent hunger. "Yet."

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☣︎ A U T H O R ' S   N O T E ☣︎

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