Daniel heard the scream before he understood what had caused it. He had been standing at the kitchen counter, waiting for the kettle to boil, when Emma's voice tore through the house. "Daniel! Come outside! Now!" There was something in her tone that made him abandon the coffee without even switching off the stove.
He reached the back door and pulled it open. Cold air rushed inside, carrying the dry smell of snow and wood smoke. Emma stood halfway across the patio in her socks, one hand pressed against her mouth. Daniel followed her stare toward the old apple tree at the edge of the yard.
For a second, his mind refused to understand the picture.
Their eight-year-old daughter, Lily, was hanging upside down from one of the lower branches. Her floral winter blanket had somehow caught around the branch and wrapped tightly around her body. Her head hung several feet above the snowy ground, her brown hair dangling almost to the pavement. She was crying and shouting at the same time.
"Dad!"
Daniel's stomach dropped.
"Lily!"
He ran across the patio.
Emma followed behind him, slipping once on the frozen stones before catching herself against the wooden fence. "Don't move!" Daniel shouted, though Lily was already too frightened to move.
"I can't!" she cried. "Dad, I can't get down!"
Daniel stopped beneath her.
The branch was too high to reach safely. The blanket had twisted around it several times, and Lily's legs were trapped inside the fabric. Her arms hung toward the ground, fingers trembling in the cold.
"How did you get up there?" Emma demanded, breathless.
"I didn't!"
Daniel looked at her.
"What?"
"I didn't climb up there!"
A gust of wind shook the bare branches. Snow dropped from above and landed on Lily's coat.
Daniel forced himself to stay calm.
"Okay. Don't worry. We're going to get you down."
"But how?"
He looked around the yard.
The ladder was inside the garage.
The patio table was covered with snow.
The wooden bench sat several feet away.
Emma was already running toward the garage.
"Get the ladder," Daniel called.
"I am!"
Lily began crying harder.
"My hands are cold."
"I know, sweetheart."
"I can't feel them."
Daniel immediately stepped closer beneath her.
"Look at me. Keep talking to me."
"I'm scared."
"I know."
"Am I going to fall?"
"No."
Daniel said the word firmly, even though he could not guarantee it.
He positioned himself beneath her head and stretched his arms upward.
"If anything happens, I'll catch you."
Emma returned with the ladder.
"Move back," she said.
Daniel took it from her.
The ladder legs sank slightly into the snow.
He positioned it against the tree and climbed carefully.
Lily's face was red from the cold.
"Almost there," Daniel said.
"I'm stuck."
"I can see that."
He reached for the blanket.
It was thick and wet, and one section had frozen against the rough bark.
Daniel touched the fabric and immediately understood something was wrong.
There was no way Lily had simply climbed the tree wrapped in that blanket.
It had been tucked around her before she ended up there.
"Emma," he said quietly.
"What?"
"Bring the scissors."
Emma froze.
"Scissors?"
"The kitchen scissors. Quickly."
She ran inside.
Lily stared down at him.
"Dad?"
"Yes?"
"I didn't do this."
Daniel looked into her frightened eyes.
"I believe you."
She swallowed.
"I woke up outside."
The words made his hands stop.
"What do you mean?"
"I woke up here."
Emma returned with the scissors.
"What did she say?"
Daniel looked at his wife.
"She says she woke up outside."
Emma's face went pale.
Daniel carefully cut through one section of the blanket, making sure he did not cut Lily's clothing.
The fabric loosened.
Lily shifted.
The branch creaked.
"Don't move!" Daniel shouted.
She froze.
"I won't."
He cut another section.
The blanket finally released one of her legs.
Daniel caught her around the waist.
Emma climbed onto the lower rung.
Together, they lowered Lily slowly.
The moment her feet touched the snow, she collapsed against her mother.
Emma wrapped her arms around her.
"You're okay."
Lily shook violently.
"I was sleeping."
"Where?"
"In my bed."
Daniel crouched beside them.
"Tell me what you remember."
Lily squeezed her mother's coat.
"I heard something."
"What?"
"A sound outside."
Daniel and Emma exchanged a glance.
"What kind of sound?" Daniel asked.
"Like someone dragging something."
Emma's expression changed.
"Did you come outside?"
"I don't know."
"You don't remember?"
Lily shook her head.
"I remember opening the back door."
"Then what?"
"Nothing."
Daniel looked at the tree.
A dark line marked the snow beneath the branch.
It looked as though something heavy had been dragged across the yard.
He followed it with his eyes.
The trail disappeared near the side gate.
"Emma," he said.
She looked up.
"What?"
"Take Lily inside."
"Why?"
"She's freezing."
Emma pulled Lily toward the house.
Daniel remained beneath the tree.
He examined the blanket.
One corner had a small tear.
The floral pattern was covered with snow.
Then he noticed something caught in the bark.
A thread.
Not from the blanket.
Black.
Thick.
Synthetic.
Daniel pulled it free.
His fingers tightened around it.
Someone wearing dark clothing had been near the tree.
He looked toward the gate.
The latch was open.
Daniel's pulse quickened.
He went to the gate.
Beyond it, the neighborhood was silent beneath the snow.
No footprints led away.
At first.
Then he noticed a single partial print near the sidewalk.
Large.
Deep.
And pointing toward the road.
Daniel stared at it.
He had the sudden feeling that whoever had put Lily in the tree had not expected her parents to find her so quickly.
He returned inside.
Emma had wrapped Lily in another blanket and was rubbing her hands between hers.
"Her fingers are warming up," Emma said.
Daniel nodded.
"Good."
Lily looked at him.
"Did you find anything?"
He hesitated.
"Just a footprint."
"Whose?"
"I don't know."
Lily looked frightened again.
Emma noticed.
"Don't talk about it in front of her."
Daniel lowered his voice.
"We need to know how she got outside."
Lily suddenly spoke.
"I know."
Both parents turned.
"What?" Emma asked.
Lily's eyes filled with tears.
"There was a bowl."
Daniel frowned.
"What bowl?"
"Outside."
"The dog bowl?"
"No."
She pointed toward the window.
"The black one."
Daniel looked through the glass.
A dark metal bowl sat near the patio bench.
It was filled with small pieces of food.
Emma stared.
"We don't have that."
Daniel opened the back door.
Cold air entered.
He stepped outside again.
The bowl was exactly where Lily had pointed.
He crouched beside it.
The food inside looked like oatmeal mixed with crushed biscuits.
He smelled it.
Nothing seemed unusual.
But there were tiny footprints around the bowl.
Not human.
Animal.
Daniel looked back toward the tree.
A thought occurred to him.
"Fox," he whispered.
"What?" Emma called.
"Nothing."
He picked up the bowl.
Then he noticed another mark beneath it.
A small rectangle pressed into the snow.
Something had been lying there.
A phone.
Daniel remembered Lily's old tablet.
She often watched videos before bed.
But the tablet was still upstairs.
He went inside and checked.
It was on her desk.
Charged.
Locked.
Daniel opened the recent activity.
A video had been played at 2:13 a.m.
A strange sound filled the room.
Scraping.
Then a child's voice.
Lily's voice.
"Who's there?"
Daniel stopped the recording.
He looked at Emma.
"What?"
"She wasn't asleep."
Emma stared at him.
"What are you saying?"
"She recorded something."
They played the last thirty seconds.
A faint voice could be heard.
Not Lily's.
A man's voice.
"Come outside."
Emma covered her mouth.
Daniel replayed it.
The voice was clearer the second time.
"Come outside, Lily. I found something."
Lily began crying.
"I remember him."
Daniel crouched beside her.
"Who?"
She looked toward the window.
"The man from the tree."
Click Here to continue read next: PART2: Lily’s Memory of the Stranger Was Missing One Crucial Detail, and Daniel Soon Realized Someone Had Been Watching Their House Before Dawn
When Daniel Looked Outside and Saw His Daughter Hanging From the Tree, He Realized the Winter Morning Had Gone Terribly Wrong
Part 1 of 8
