As per tradition, they got ready to take a photo that would be placed on the mantelpiece, but as the camera’s timer counted down, Sienna thought she heard a soft sound in the hallway behind her. Assuring her it was nothing, Thomas hugged her and they smiled for yet another photo of a year spent together.
The following morning, she was woken up by the sound of pinging. She grabbed her phone as notifications came one after another. Most of them were comments from people wishing them a happy anniversary, but there were also those that kept asking whose face it was in the background of the photo.
Upon further inspection, Sienna realized there was indeed a face on the picture they had taken the previous night. She told Thomas about it but he was convinced it was just a shadow that resembled a face.
However, Sienna wasn’t at peace. She remembered that she heard a sound at the moment the photo was taken, so she asked Thomas to inspect the house, just in case.
Thomas did that, but there was no one there. “Relax, love. It’s me,” he said, chuckling a bit. “Forget about that photo. We’ve got lunch reservations, remember?”
As the two headed towards the car and Sienna was about to get inside, she spotted the same eerie face on the car’s window but was too scared to say a word. She then screamed and turned around, but there was no one behind her.
That night, she was disturbed by a strange sound. It was now obvious that someone was inside the house. She woke Thomas up, and he confirmed there were noises coming from downstairs.
He grabbed the phone in one hand and his gun in the other.
“We can’t call 911 for a ghost!” Sienna argued, but he still called 911.
As they went to the kitchen, walking extremely slowly, they spotted a malnourished boy that burst into tears. His face was covered in snot and it was obvious he was scared and hungry.
But how did he end up in their home?
“Hey there, it’s okay. We won’t hurt you,” Thomas said with a gentle voice.
“You’re hungry, right?” Sienna asked, grinning tenderly.
“Hungry, yes,” the boy nodded.
“What’s your name?”
“Nikolai.”
Slowly, he explained that he and his mom came from a bad place and kept asking if they could help his mommy.
At that moment, the police that Thomas had previously called arrived at their door. This scared the boy and he fled before they could catch him.
The following day, Sienna and Thomas went looking for Nikolai. They knew he couldn’t have gone far.
As they were wandering around the neighborhood, they spotted an abandoned Victorian house.
Investigating further, Sienna found a boarded window and heard a woman’s plea for help from inside. She had her phone in her hand in a second to call the police. Soon after, other people gathered.
The authorities broke into the place and saw a woman in distress. In broken English, she said her name was Asya and explained that she came to the States for a better life for her and her son but ended up with a man who was a monster and kept her prisoner.
They took her out, and soon after, Nikolai emerged from the basement.
“What about the man who did this?” Sienna asked.
“We’ve already sent officers to arrest him at his job. Nikolai and Asya will be taken to a safe place. It seems she came here from Russia as some kind of mail-order bride. The legality of her immigrant status is unknown at this point, but we’ll ensure they get the help they need,” the officers responded.
It was an incredible experience. A single photo led to a shocking discovery and helped two lives to be saved.
“I believe the latest photo for the mantle deserves a special place,” Thomas told his wife, holding up a framed print of the now-infamous photo the couple had posted on social media.
“It’s the best of the bunch,” Sienna quipped.
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