I Know You’re Awake

Chapter 1: bedroom door

The footsteps stopped outside his bedroom door.

Until that moment, the boy had been drifting between sleep and wakefulness, wrapped tightly in his blanket while the house settled around him. The darkness felt ordinary. Safe, even.

Then he heard the floorboard creak.

His eyes opened slightly.

Someone was standing in the hallway.

He could see a thin line of yellow light beneath his door. A shadow moved across it, disappeared, and then returned.

The boy held his breath.

At first, he thought it might be his father checking on him. Sometimes his father opened the door late at night to make sure he had not kicked off his blanket. His mother did the same thing whenever the weather became cold.

But these footsteps were different.

They were slow and heavy. Each step seemed carefully placed, as if the person outside did not want to make a sound.