Johnny almost didn’t go inside.
He had planned to just pick her up—but after she didn’t text back, he decided to knock.
Selene opened the door, hair still wet, smiling. Warm light spilled out from behind her into the night.
“Hey, come in,” she said casually.
Johnny hesitated.
Waiting inside someone else’s house—especially someone he barely knew—felt… wrong.
“You sure?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she laughed. “I just need five minutes. Make yourself comfortable.”
Five minutes.
Johnny nodded and stepped inside.
The living room was quiet.
Too quiet.
A couch sat against the wall. Across from it was a short white door. The kind you’d expect in an old house. Basement access, maybe.
It was closed.
“Just wait there,” Selene said, motioning to the couch as she headed down the hallway. “I’ll be quick.”
A moment later, the sound of a hair dryer filled the house.
Johnny sat and pulled out his phone, scrolling aimlessly.
“Five minutes. No big deal,” he said.
Head down, scrolling—
That’s when he saw her.
In the reflection of his phone screen.
A small figure standing across from him.
Johnny froze.
Slowly, he looked up.
A little girl stood a few feet away, staring at him.
He jumped. “What the—!”
She didn’t react.
“Sorry,” Johnny said, catching his breath. “Whoa… I didn’t know Selene had a sister. Or… daughter?”
He squinted at her.
“Nah… you’re too big. You’ve gotta be her little sister.”
The girl said nothing.
Then, quietly:
“Can you help me? I dropped my ball.”
She lifted her arm and pointed.
Johnny followed her finger—to the short white door.
It was open now—just a crack.
He frowned. He could’ve sworn it had been closed.
“I… don’t think I should go down there,” he said. “It’s not my house.”
The girl stepped closer.
She grabbed his shirt and tugged.
“Pleeease.”
Johnny hesitated, then stood. “Alright—hold on. Let me ask your sister first.”
He walked down the hallway and knocked on the bedroom door.
No answer.
The hair dryer roared on the other side, drowning him out.
He knocked again. Louder.
Still nothing.
Johnny sighed and turned back.
The little girl was gone.
“Hello?”
No response.
The living room looked the same.
But it didn’t feel the same.
Johnny’s eyes drifted to the small door.
Now it was fully open.
A soft light glowed from inside.
He stepped closer, slow and cautious, like his body was moving without asking him first.
He pulled the door open.
A staircase descended into a basement.
Light glowed faintly at the bottom.
Johnny leaned in, squinting to see.
At the base of the stairs sat something—a small red rubber ball.
He pulled his head out and glanced back into the living room.
“Hey… I think I found your ball,” he called out.
Silence.
Then—
“Where? I don’t see it…” said the little girl.
Johnny froze.
The voice came from the basement.
He leaned in again.
A shadow crept in from the right side of the stairs.
The red ball sat in the light.
The shadow stood beside it.
But he couldn’t see the little girl.
“Help… I can’t find my ball…”
Johnny’s back stiffened.
The voice was closer now.
“Just come up. It’s right there,” he said nervously.
The shadow inched toward the ball.
Slowly.
Then stopped.
It didn’t pick it up.
Johnny swallowed.
“It’s right there,” he said, his voice thinner now. “Just grab it…”
The shadow lingered.
Then, without warning, it slid out of sight—
and vanished into the darkness.
Johnny blinked.
“What the f—”
A hand grabbed his shoulder.
He jumped, slamming the door shut.
“HEY!”
Johnny spun around, heart pounding.
Selene stood there, confused.
“Are you okay?”
Johnny exhaled hard. “Yeah—yeah, I just— Your sister… she dropped her ball down the basement—”
Selene frowned.
“…I don’t have a little sister.”
Johnny blinked.
“What?”
“I don’t have a little sister,” she repeated.
He stared at her. “Okay… then your daughter?”
Her face hardened.
“I think you should go.”
Johnny let out a nervous laugh. “Alright, come on. Are you messing with me? She was right here. She told me to go down the basement—”
Selene’s eyes narrowed.
“…Basement?”
Johnny turned and gestured towards the short white door.
“Yeah, the basement. Right here—”
He opened the door.
Inside was a shallow closet.
No stairs. No basement.
Johnny stared, mouth wide-open.
“That’s not— it was right here—”
He shut the door. Opened it again.
Still a closet.
He shut it. Opened it again.
Nothing changed.
Selene didn’t say a word.
She walked to the front door, opened it, and waited.
Johnny hesitated.
Then he stepped outside.
He turned back toward her.
“Rain check?”
The door slammed in his face.
Johnny exhaled, defeated.
“…Yeah. Thought so.”
He stood there for a moment, staring at the door.
Then shook his head.
“Yeah… okay. That was something.”
He walked to his car, still unsettled, still trying to make sense of it.
As he drove off, Selene went back to her bedroom.
The living room sat quiet again.
Still.
Watching.
From the living room window—
The little girl stood behind the glass.
Not waving.
Not smiling.
Just staring.
And slowly she lifted her cupped hands… showing the little red rubber ball.
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