- 11.
My head was swimming. Sarah thought Michael
was a problem. Michael thought Sarah was
“What do you mean?” I messaged Michael,
“What did you see?”
Michael: “Sarah’s always so organized, uses
‘firstly.‘ ‘secondly. But after she went quiet for
a while, after the cop showed up, her messages
were all jumbled.”
He was right. Sarah’s accusations against
Michael had been strangely unconvincing. Not
8:57
Michael sent another flurry of messages:
079
“Speaking of the cop… only one came to your
door, right?
That’s not standard procedure. They always
send two, even if one’s a rookie.
Are you sure you only saw one?”
“Yes! Just one. Positive!” I replied.
Michael:
“Something’s definitely wrong. I’m calling 911. Not using that cell number. Something’s off
about that. Direct to 911.”
He stopped texting. He was calling.
I replayed the night’s events. Something about
John bothered me. He was initially against
calling the police, but he ended up calling? If
the cop was fake, wasn’t John in on it too? He
started the new group chat right before the
<
8:57
“cop” showed up, kept everyone focused on
that chat, then gave us the fake cop’s
070
number… Was the group chat a way to keep us
from calling 911 directly?
And the “cop” not wanting me to open the
door… Maybe he was afraid I’d recognize him
as a fake if I saw him up close.
I was starting to believe Michael. He was calling
- 911.
Then, Michael’s next message made my blood
run cold:
“Called 911. Couldn’t give them a clear reason,
so they’re sending a patrol car to check. 20-30
minutes.
But… the dispatcher said they hadn’t received
any calls from our building.
Stay inside. Lock your doors. Wait for the real
police.
I don’t know what the hell is going on. I’m
<
8:57
waiting.”
974
If Michael wasn’t lying, I was right. John was involved. He hadn’t called 911. The cop was a fake. That’s why his cap was so low – he didn’t want to be seen on the lobby security cameras.
What about David? I still didn’t understand, but
it was all connected somehow.
But what if Michael was lying? What if he knew
I was supposed to check on Chris and was trying to stop me? Because now John and
Sarah were messaging me in the smaller group
chat, urging me to go to Chris’s door.
What was I supposed to do?
- 12.
I decided to stay put. It was too dangerous to
go out. But I typed a quick message in the
group chat:
く
“Okay, going over there now. Will update.”
I wasn’t going anywhere.
The group chat went silent. Waiting for me?
No.
Seconds later, noises from my balcony.
Footsteps? But how?
Then I realized
–
someone was climbing. Shoes
scraping against the wall. I looked. A dark rope,
almost invisible against the night sky, was
swaying.
Sarah had said we could climb between
balconies. Two floors down from Sarah was me.
I grabbed a kitchen knife, stood trembling by
the balcony door. A figure rappelled down the
rope, landing silently on the railing. He was
wearing a uniform. A police uniform.
8:57
This was the fake cop.
I raised the knife, adrenaline surging, fear
making my legs weak.
The intruder saw me.
And then he screamed.
“A ghost!”
He let go of the rope, falling backwards.
I stared, dumbfounded. A ghost?
974
He wasn’t looking at me. He was looking behind
- me.
I felt a chill. I slowly turned…
David’s face. Inches from mine. Terrifying.
Everything went black.
L
- 13.
974
I woke up to bright lights and police officers. They took my statement, explained what happened.
Two men, Mark and Alex, had targeted our building. They’d heard it was newly renovated, assumed the residents were wealthy. They’d worn security guard uniforms as a disguise, climbed up the outside of the building, starting with 4. 204 and 304 were empty. But 404…
David, Amy, and their baby. All dead.
The intruders found little of value, so they went up to 504. John. He was dead too. Mark and Alex had been using his phone the whole time. That’s why John never appeared when the fake cop came to my door.
They were ready to leave, but Mark realized his
personal cell phone was missing. If the police
8:57
974
apartment, planning to go back to 404 to look
for it.
That’s when the baby started crying again.
Loudly. Waking everyone up.
Mark and Alex panicked. They were sure the
baby was dead. They used John’s phone, monitored the chat, stalled for time.
Then Chris went to 404. And disappeared. He
was later found unconscious inside David’s apartment. No one knew how he got in.
Chris’s disappearance terrified the intruders. They thought he’d figured them out. Now they had to find Chris and the phone. That’s why “John” messaged me privately.
The fake cop didn’t want me to open the door because he was afraid I’d see through his
disguise, and he didn’t know if Chris was with me, waiting to ambush him.
<
8:57
074
After the fake cop left, Mark and Alex went up to 601. Sarah was dead. They needed a better vantage point to get to my apartment. Michael was right – Sarah’s later messages had been sent by someone else. One of the intruders.
They decided Mark would rappel down to my balcony. To kill me. And Chris, if he was there.
But Mark saw David. And fell. Alex, tethered to the same rope, fell too.
- 14.
That’s how the night unfolded. The only thing
no one could explain… was David.
Was he a ghost? The police report didn’t say.
But I knew he hadn’t meant me any harm. He’d used Chris’s phone to send the “all clear”
message. Why? His family was dead. He could
have told us the truth. Maybe he thought the
have told us the truth. Maybe he thought the
intruders were too dangerous. He wanted us to
stay safe. He’d lost everything, and he…
wanted us to be okay.
