You kneel and scoop the locket from the carpet. The brass is warm against your palm; when you flip it open, a faded portrait looks backβa young man in a faded uniform, a faint scar at his jaw. The womanβs breath catches as you hold it up. Her fingers twitch toward it before she pulls back, as if afraid to take it.
βHe wasββ she begins, voice a thin rasp. βElias. He was a sailor. He promised heβd come back for me after the war. Theyββ She presses both hands to her temples. βThey come through the walls. Voices. They call like people you love. Theyβ¦they took him into the vents and left his voice. I hid. I hid, but they found other rooms. They find you if you answer.β Her eyes focus on you, pleading and terrified. βPlease. Keep it. If they trick you with his voice, donβt go toward it.β
A soft, rhythmic tapping starts in the wall behind herβthree slow, patient knocks, like knuckles testing wood. The candle on the sconce nearby wavers as if a breath has passed through the corridor. The woman flinches and buries her face in her hands.
What do you do?
1) Promise to keep the locket and stay with herβspeak calmly, try to learn more about Elias and what the βvoicesβ sound like.
2) Move to the ajar door and peer inside or listen more closelyβinvestigate the cold draft and the source of the tapping.
