Chapter 4: The Impostor in the Shadows

[We found a child's footprint at the scene.]

Goosebumps crawled all over my skin. I quickly shook my head.

Morgan Ellis, you're losing it!

First you suspect Tyler is an adult in disguise, and now you're thinking he's a murderer?

Everyone said it: to chop up a body like that, the killer must be an adult man!

I kept telling myself that, planning to tidy up the room to calm down.

That's when I noticed something on the floor. Tyler's journal.

He always carries it and never lets me see. Today, probably startled by the police, he dropped it in the living room.

I know kids value their privacy these days, so I've never peeked before.

But now, I couldn't help myself. It was like I was possessed.

My face instantly went pale.

Because there wasn't a diary in the notebook at all. Just...

Just four words—

[Chop them up.

Chop them up.

Chop them up.

Chop them up.]

The whole page was filled, over and over, with those four words.

Thud.

Startled, my hand went limp and the notebook fell to the floor, flipping open to the next page.

This page was blank except for a single line—

[Next, who should I chop up?]

My mind went blank.

All I could hear were the neighbor's words in the group chat—

[That old lady in 502 was killed, and the dog too. Both were chopped into pieces!]

Chopped into pieces. Chop...

My skin crawled. Before my brain could react, my phone suddenly rang.

I looked down. It was a video call from Jenna. I answered in a hurry. Her smiling face appeared on the screen.

"Morgan Ellis, don't say I never do anything nice for you! It's 8 a.m. here in Miami, I'm heading to the beach, thought I'd give you a treat and video call you..."

"Jenna!"

I cut her off and frantically told her everything.

She was stunned.

"What? Your neighbor is dead? The dog too? And you think Tyler did it? Are you nuts?"

"But how do you explain this journal?"

My voice shook as I shoved the notebook in front of the camera.

"Your nephew wrote this himself!"

She was silent for a second, then quickly said,

"It's probably just a kid messing around. Didn't we used to write 'Death Notes' when we were little? Don't take it seriously."

I remembered those silly games we used to play as kids—making up lists of people we 'hated' or scribbling fake curses in the margins of our notebooks. But something about this felt different. My hands were clammy.

"But—"

I started to say more, but at that moment—

"Aunt Morgan."

A childish voice sounded behind me. I turned and saw Tyler had somehow entered the living room.

He was standing in the doorway, half in shadow, eyes wide and innocent as ever. My heart leapt into my throat.

I panicked, quickly hung up and hid the journal behind my back.

Tyler seemed oblivious, asking innocently, "Auntie, who were you talking to on the phone?"

Still unsure what was going on, I answered vaguely, "A work call. Tyler, why did you come out?"

"I want to ride my scooter in the hallway for a bit. I promise I won't go downstairs, just in the hallway, okay?"

Normally, I'd never let Tyler play alone in the hallway. After all, there's an elevator—what if he went downstairs by accident?

But right now, I couldn't care less and just nodded.

"Okay, go ahead."

Tyler happily took his scooter and went out.

I went into the study and picked up my phone, only to see Jenna had called me over a dozen times while I was talking to Tyler.

I immediately called her back on video.

"Why did you call so many times?"

On screen, Jenna's face was pale.

"Morgan, was that Tyler just now?"

I froze, realizing that at the end of our last video call, my camera must have caught Tyler.

I nodded. "Yeah."

Her face turned even paler.

"Morgan, listen to me and don't freak out."

She swallowed, her voice trembling.

"The kid staying at your place... isn't my nephew Tyler at all."

A dead silence fell.

I could hear the hum of the refrigerator, the distant traffic outside, and my own shaky breathing. In the end, I was the first to react, letting out a weird, short laugh that sounded especially jarring in the quiet.

"Jenna, come on. You gave me your nephew yourself—how could he not be..."

My words cut off abruptly.

Because suddenly, I realized, Tyler wasn't handed over to me by Jenna in person.

The day I went to pick up Tyler, I was delayed by a fender bender on the way and arrived late at their apartment complex.

Jenna and her family were rushing to catch their flight, so they left Tyler at the security office and told me to pick him up there.

But when I got to the security office, only Tyler was there.

At the time, I just thought the security guards were careless, and told Jenna to complain to building management.

But thinking back now, my scalp went numb—

I had never seen Tyler before.

This "Tyler" at my house wasn't handed to me by Jenna herself.

So could this "Tyler" really not be Tyler—not my best friend's nephew? Then who is he?

Before I could think further, my phone buzzed.

It was a message from the police officer who'd visited earlier.

He asked: [We've just learned there's a child temporarily staying at your home. Could we get the guardian's consent to conduct a simple investigation? Because we suspect that child was at the crime scene.]

To prove it, he sent a photo: a bloody footprint.

Inside the footprint, there was a Mickey Mouse head.

All the blood drained from my body.

Because I remembered—the soles of Tyler's shoes have a Mickey Mouse head.

Jenna was already crying on the phone.

"If the kid at your house isn't Tyler, then where did Tyler go? I'll tell my sister right now—we'll get the first flight back!"

She was sobbing, but I couldn't answer. I just ran to the entrance, slammed the door, and locked it tight.

Only one thought was in my mind—

Lock that 'child' of unknown origin outside.

No, that's not right.

He might not even be a child.

Dentures...

Dismemberment...

If he's an adult male pretending to be a kid, then everything makes sense!

On the phone, Jenna was shouting warnings, her voice frantic.

"And Morgan, no matter who that child... that thing in your house is, call the police immediately—"

Her voice cut off. I jumped and grabbed my phone, only to find it had gone black.

No power?

But just a moment ago, the battery was full.

I rushed to find the charger, but then—

Snap.

The circuit breaker tripped.

The whole apartment was plunged into darkness, only the streetlights outside shining in.

I was stunned.

Power outage?

I looked out the window—all the other apartments still had lights. Only mine was dark.

Was it a short circuit? Or...

I didn't dare think about it. I just wanted to grab my laptop to contact someone. But when I stumbled into the study, I found—

My laptop was gone.

I was frozen in shock.

The computer was gone.

The phone was dead.

Sudden blackout.

None of this could be a coincidence.

Could it be... that "Tyler"?

My nerves were stretched to the limit. I didn't dare go out the door, just wanted to rush to the balcony and scream for help.

But as soon as I took a step, I froze.

Wait.

Now that I thought about it, I never heard the sound of a scooter in the hallway at all.

I stiffly turned my head. Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw Tyler's scooter sitting quietly by the entrance.

My scalp tingled. In the next second, a soft, childish voice spoke behind me.

"Auntie, are you looking for me?"

The words hung in the air, chilling and sweet, and for the first time, I realized I might not be alone in my own home at all.