Sssssss

She told her mother, who said, “That’s just the old pipes, honey.”

The first time Elise heard it, she was six years old, standing alone in the hallway closet. She’d been hiding from her brother during a game of sardines. The dark was thick as velvet. Then, from behind the winter coats: Sssssss. Sssssss

She left the basement, stepped into the morning, and heard only the ordinary sounds of the world: birds, wind, a car passing. She told her mother, who said, “That’s just

The basement went silent. So silent she could hear her own heartbeat. She told her mother

Finally, she traced it to the basement of her childhood home — now abandoned. She stood in the dark, recorder in hand, and whispered, “What do you want?”

Sssssss.

Sssssss.