“The Three Words Behind the Wall”

The boy didn’t respond.

After a moment, Leo simply stepped away and walked across the room as if nothing had happened.

Daniel shrugged uneasily.

“Maybe it’s a phase.”

But by the third day, the behavior began to feel unsettling.

Every few hours Leo would wander to that same corner.

He would press his face against the wall.

Then he would stand there in silence.

Sometimes for thirty seconds.

Sometimes for a full minute.