“But you’ve got it wrong. Tommy took the day off today to go to a party with his Papa. How could he still be in the haunted house?

“Do you think I, Holly Spark, am a fool?”

I suddenly remembered that Tommy had indeed taken the morning off.

His father only brought him in the afternoon, claiming it was inconvenient to have Tommy around for his date.

There was no time to explain.

The children’s cries grew louder, and I nearly shouted back.

Worried I would frighten them more, I lowered my voice as I spoke, “Mrs. Spark, this is the person who just spoke with you. Your son, Tommy, is here in my arms. He has claustrophobia, correct?

“He’s already having trouble breathing. Please send someone immediately to open the door!”

I spoke quickly.

Silence fell on the other end of the line.

For a moment, all I could hear was my own and the children’s ragged breathing.

Seconds dragged by, and then Holly laughed softly.

Her reaction unsettled me even more.

“I already told you—pay, and I’ll call the repairmen,” she said, her voice dripping with scorn.

“You’re just trying to trick me so you don’t have to pay!

“Tommy’s homeroom teacher is a woman in her forties. Your voice sounds no older than twenty or thirty—still trying to fool me?”

She moved to hang up.

Beside me, Levi clutched my hand, holding back tears.

His voice trembled as he said, “Mrs. Spark, it’s Levi! I’m Tommy’s class monitor.

“You spoke to me at his birthday last time. Don’t you remember? Our previous teacher, Mr. Liam Patterson, got sick, and now Miss Cambria is our homeroom teacher!”

“What a horrible child! Trying to take advantage of others from such a young age,” Holly burst out.

“If your Tommy really is there, why don’t you let him speak to me?”

I held the watch to Tommy’s mouth.

Sweat streaked his face, his skin tinged purple.

He opened his mouth but could not form the words.

My heart burned with anxiety.

“Mrs. Sparks, your son is trembling and can’t speak. If you don’t send someone to open the door immediately, it’ll be too late for him!”

Despite my urgency and panic, Holly remained unbothered, humming slowly with amusement.

The frantic rhythm of my breathing and the children’s stifled cries became music she seemed to savor.

Pleasure laced her voice, “I said, if you want to get out, you have to pay first.”

At the same moment, Tommy whispered hoarsely as he trembled in my arms, “Mama…”

Holly paused for an instant, but then her voice flared with anger, “You heartless people! What does it matter if you found a voice like my son’s? I won’t be fooled!

“If you refuse to pay, then spend the night in the haunted house!”

She slammed the phone down.

The watch dimmed, and darkness fell over the room once more.

The children could no longer hold back, wailing one by one, their cries tearing through the silence.

“Waaah! Help! Mom, I want my mom!”

“I don’t want… I don’t want to sleep here. I want to go home…”

“Waaah!”

Dozens of children cried at once.

My head felt ready to burst. I hurried to soothe them gently.

“Everyone, don’t cry. Listen to me.

“Don’t be afraid. Remember what I said—when we face danger, we call the police, right?

“I’m calling the police to come save us, so stop crying, everyone.

“If we keep crying, Tommy will get worse.

“If you’re scared, let’s hold hands and sit together, okay?”

After offering what comfort I could, I finally managed to steady the situation.

I didn’t dare delay any longer and immediately called the police.

Then I phoned Levi’s father and asked him to inform everyone in the parents’ group to rush to the amusement park as soon as possible.

His voice trembled with fear as he listened to what had happened.

Only after confirming the children were still safe did he finally breathe again, then burst into furious curses at Holly.

Moments later, he transferred four thousand five hundred dollars to Levi’s smart watch and told me to use it to deal with Holly for now.

I hesitated for a moment.

The police and the parents would need time to arrive.

The fastest solution was to make Holly send someone to unlock the door.

Afraid any delay might worsen Tommy’s condition, I recorded my conversation with Levi’s father.

As soon as we hung up, I typed Holly’s bank account number into the smart watch and transferred the money before I called her.

“I’ve already sent you the payment. Find someone and open the door right now!”

On the other end, her voice remained unhurried, as if the threat to Tommy’s life had nothing to do with her.

She slowly set her cup onto the table before speaking, as though she were granting me a favor.

“From the moment I told you the price, twenty minutes have gone by.

“You’ve wasted twenty minutes of my time for nothing. So now, four thousand five hundred dollars isn’t enough.”

“One hundred more for every minute — twenty minutes means two thousand dollars. Transfer it.”

She spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world, as though I were the debtor and she had come to collect.

I could no longer hold back my anger.

“How can you go back on your word like this?

“And don’t forget — the child trapped in there is your son!

“Where am I supposed to get another two thousand dollars?”

Holly exploded.

“You filthy bitch — watch your mouth! How dare you curse my son!

“And I told you already — Tommy is with his Papa. He’s not there.

“As for that dying brat, that’s just his bad luck. Who told him to come to a haunted house?”

Rage surged through me so fiercely that I wanted to storm out to grab her by the collar and slap her.

It didn’t matter whose child it was — this was a human life.

I clenched my fists, then charged at the door, slamming my shoulder against it again and again.

Once.

Twice…

By the time my shoulder had gone numb with pain, the door still hadn’t budged.

Holly’s mocking voice crackled mercilessly through the watch.

“Hahaha, if you can break that door open, I’ll eat my shoe!”

Exhausted, I leaned against the door, praying the police would arrive quickly.

Tommy’s face grew more purple by the minute as the students surrounded him.

Levi was so anxious that he was nearly in tears.

“Miss Cambria, please—come look!”

I hurried over.

Tommy’s breath was growing fainter and fainter.

At that moment, a piercing police siren split through the air.

I heard Holly jump to her feet in panic, muttering curses under her breath.

“Damn it—did they actually call the police?”

I lay Tommy flat on the ground and began CPR with trembling hands.

Through the watch connection, I could hear the police bursting into Holly’s office.

She tried to sound calm as she asked why they were there, but angry, frantic parents shouted in the background.

The moment Tommy stopped breathing, a sharp, cracking scream exploded from the watch.

“Honey? Why are you here?”