I brought him inside, wrapped him in a blanket, and called the police again.
They were stunned. “He vanished,” one of them muttered. “Security footage shows nothing. He was asleep in his hospital bed. The door never opened. No windows breached.”
They took him back again. As they were leaving, one officer paused.
“He ever say more about that ‘dad without a mouth’?”
I nodded.
The officer exhaled. “Years ago, in another state, we had a kid say the same thing. Described him the same way. That boy disappeared again. No trace. Not even a shoeprint.”
That night, I couldn’t sleep. I watched the footage over and over. That shadow holding another.
I started searching. Late-night deep dives into lost-children forums, archived news stories, strange urban legends.
