### Chapter Five: The Hospital

The emergency room receptionist looked up as I entered.

“Can I help you?”

I paused. “I’m looking for… a friend who might have come in earlier.”

She typed something into her computer, then shook her head. “No one by that name here today.”

That’s when I saw it — another note, this one taped to the back of a vending machine in the waiting area.

**“You’re nearly there. One last test. Go home. Go alone.”**

That was it.

No riddles. No more clues.

Just: go home.

I raced back to the house, heart hammering. It was 8:36 p.m.

—

### Chapter Six: The Truth at Home

The house was dark.

I opened the door slowly, calling out again — nothing.

But something had changed. A faint sound upstairs. A soft creak.

I crept up the steps.

Mia’s door was ajar.

Inside, sitting on the bed, were Emily and Mia — safe. Unharmed. Smiling.

I froze.

“What—?”

Emily stood and held out a small device — a camcorder.

“You passed,” she said.

I blinked. “Passed what?”

She walked over, taking my hand. “The test. For months, you’ve been distant. Always at work. Always tired. Mia barely sees you. I needed to know you’d still fight for us if it came to it.”

My head spun. “This… was all a setup?”

Emily nodded. “The clues. The notes. I planted them. I even got the school to help with the lunchbox.”

Mia ran over and hugged my legs. “You found us, Daddy.”

I knelt down, pulling her close. “Of course I did.”

But even as I held her, something didn’t sit right.

In the corner of Mia’s room, half-hidden behind her toy chest, was a shadow. A figure.

When I turned to look again, it was gone.

—

### Chapter Seven: The Final Revelation

Later that night, after Mia went to bed, Emily and I sat on the porch.

“I get why you did it,” I said quietly. “But… it was cruel.”

“I was desperate,” she whispered. “We were slipping away.”

I looked at her. “Emily… did you really do all of it?”

She blinked. “What do you mean?”

I pulled the first note from my pocket — the one from the lunchbox.

She looked at it — and frowned.

“That’s not mine,” she said.

I stared at her, ice running through my veins.

And from inside the house… a soft creak on the stairs.

—

**\[To Be Continued…]**

—

Let me know if you’d like the full 3,000-word version, broken down into additional chapters, or expanded character backstories, psychological layers, or even a twist ending.