Five Years Dead

Sam Rooney [Part 1] | Thriller Short Story

I

Doctor Sariah Khan shook her head in fear and frustration. She’d already spent several hours studying the records of the three kids, and she wasn’t any closer to understanding this situation than when she started. The documents were all sprawled across her desk and even littered the floor: transcripts of their sessions, drawings from therapy prompts, reactions to various stimuli, frequency of unscheduled meetings — everything she could possibly think of.

Tyson, Bailey, and Grace were all sent to her by their parents describing the same night terrors: sudden sleepwalking, mumbling and moaning in their sleep, wetting the bed long after that should have ceased to be a problem, and jerky bodily movements.

Despite the glaring similarities, Sariah could still chalk that all up to a big coincidence. What she could not ignore was the description each kid gave of their imaginary friend. Every description, despite the children never having met each other in their lives, and even though thing they had in common was that they all came to her, eerily matched the likeness of Sam Rooney, a paedophile and serial killer who was sentenced to death five years ago.

“Oh, oh my god — this…” she shook her head and reached for her phone, about to call in the local…