Static on the Baby Monitor
horror◐ TeenMara taps the screen, sure it glitched. Just a shadow, a trick of the night-light. She flips the monitor over to check the battery, and when she turns it back, Theo is lying down again, perfectly normal. She lets out a breath. Probably nothing. She sits back on the couch with her phone.
Twenty minutes later the monitor hisses again. Mara looks up. This time Theo is standing in the crib, both hands flat on the camera, his face pressed so close his eyes fill the whole screen. The speaker crackles with one clear word in his small voice: 'Outside.' Then she hears the back door unlock itself.
What happens next?
2 ways forwardMara runs to the back door and slams the bolt home before anything can open it. Through the glass, the yard is empty and still. She races upstairs to Theo. He's sound asleep, normal, safe. She carries him down to the couch and holds him until headlights swing into the driveway. His parents are home. She never sits for them again.