Chapter 7 - WHY EMILY CRAWLED THERE
Babies notice repetition.
Not secrets.
Emily had heard something.
A faint tapping.
A soft voice.
Maybe movement.
Natalie said when she heard Emily crawling above, she tapped lightly on the underside of the floor.
At first it was accidental.
Then intentional.
Three taps.
Pause.
Three taps.
Emily would stop.
Then crawl back.
Natalie began whispering:
“Hi, baby.”
Emily could not understand.
But she associated the loose board with sound.
That explained the behavior.
She was not psychically drawn to a mystery.
She was responding to a person.
Michael cried when Laura explained that.
His eighteen-month-old daughter had been hearing Natalie beneath the living room while the adults told themselves the house was normal.
Then investigators inspected the underside of the loose plank.
Scratch marks.
Finger marks.
A shallow groove where Natalie had pushed repeatedly.
The board had weakened over time.
Emily’s prying made it shift more.
Then Laura found something else.
A line of tiny crayon marks on the underside.
Red.
Blue.
Green.
Michael stared.
“Crayon?”
Natalie smiled weakly.
“Emily dropped them through the vent.”
The living room had an old floor vent beside the rug.
Small objects could slip through.
Natalie collected them.
Three broken crayons.
One toy block.
A plastic spoon.
She kept them because they were proof the world above still existed.
Michael covered his face.
Then Laura asked Natalie:
“Why didn’t you scream when Michael was home?”
Natalie’s expression changed.
“I did once.”
Michael looked up.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
She screamed his name.
Vanessa immediately turned the television volume up.
Then later told Natalie:
“Michael heard you and said he doesn’t want to get involved.”
Michael stood.
“That never happened.”
“I know that now.”
Natalie’s eyes filled.
“But then I believed her.”
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Vanessa had not only trapped Natalie physically.
She controlled what Natalie believed Michael knew.
