The Neighbors Little Secret

The first time Emma sees the girl, she's pressed against the fence like a ghost-small hands gripping the slats, dark eyes fixed on the newborn cradled in Emma's arms.

Emma has given up her career, her city, and her sense of self for a fresh start in a picture-perfect suburb. Now her days are measured in feedings, panic attacks, and the suffocating quiet of a house that doesn't feel like home. Her husband says she needs sleep. The doctor says she's medically fine.

But the girl next door never speaks. Never smiles. And when Emma asks the neighbors about her, the temperature of the street drops. Doors close. Curtains twitch.

The Whitmans are the family everyone admires-polite, successful, generous at barbecues. So why does Emma hear muffled crying through their walls at night? Why do toys appear, then vanish, along the fence line? Why does the girl look so terrified every time someone calls her name?

As Emma's world narrows to the fence and the child behind it, she's forced to confront a terrible question: Is she losing her mind-or is she the only one willing to see what this neighborhood is desperate to hide?