THE MISSING HOUR
THE MISSING HOUR
A sequel to The Tunnel
Introduction
Fifteen years ago, Jessie Harper escaped Blackwater Tunnel.
Or at least...
That's what everyone believed.
She left her hometown as soon as she was old enough, determined never to look back.
She built a new life.
A new career.
New memories.
She became a midwife, helping bring new life into the world, hoping it would drown out the memory of the place that had almost stolen her own.
Her younger sister, Lizzy, stayed behind.
The tunnel stayed too.
For fifteen years, Jessie convinced herself the nightmare was over.
Then, halfway through a rainy night shift...
Her phone rang.
An unknown number.
A frightened mother.
And six words that made her blood run cold.
"My daughter came back... different."
Chapter One
Jessie Harper never worked day shifts if she could avoid them.
The maternity ward felt different at night.
Quieter.
Calmer.
Most babies ignored the clock anyway.
Life arrived whenever it chose.
At twenty eight years old, Jessie had become one of the hospital's most trusted midwives.
Parents remembered her smile.
Her calm voice.
The way she always seemed to know exactly what to say when panic filled the room.
Nobody knew why she had chosen the job.
To everyone else, she simply loved helping people.
Only Jessie knew the truth.
She spent every day helping babies arrive safely...
Because she had spent fifteen years wondering if her own little sister ever truly came home.
She hadn't lived in Blackwater for over a decade.
Her parents still did.
Lizzy still did.
Jessie visited at Christmas.
Birthdays.
The occasional Sunday lunch.
Always making sure she left before sunset.
And never...
Ever...
Taking the road past the tunnel.
She had become very good at pretending.
Pretending she'd moved on.
Pretending she'd forgotten.
Pretending that every now and then she didn't wake at exactly 3:12 a.m. hearing the same frightened voice.
"Jessie..."
"Please come back for me..."
She had stopped telling anyone years ago.
Chapter Two
Rain hammered against the hospital windows.
Jessie had just finished helping deliver a healthy baby boy.
As she removed her gloves, her phone vibrated inside her locker.
Unknown Number.
She almost ignored it.
Instead, something made her answer.
"Hello?"
All she could hear was crying.
Deep.
Uncontrollable sobbing.
"Hello?"
Finally, a woman's voice managed to speak.
"Is... is this Jessie Harper?"
Jessie's stomach tightened.
"...Yes."
"My name's Rachel."
"The police..."
"...they gave me your name."
Jessie stopped walking.
"The police?"
"They said..."
The woman struggled to breathe.
"They said you survived Blackwater Tunnel."
Jessie's entire body froze.
Nobody outside her hometown had ever said those words to her before.
"Who told you that?"
"They wouldn't explain."
"They just said..."
"...if anyone understands..."
"...it's you."
Chapter Three
Jessie quietly stepped into an empty relatives' room and closed the door behind her.
Her heart was already racing.
"What happened?"
"My daughter."
"She's twelve."
"She disappeared."
Jessie's voice became barely audible.
"...Where?"
The answer came immediately.
"The tunnel."
Jessie closed her eyes.
For a moment she was thirteen again.
Standing in the darkness.
Calling Lizzy's name.
Rachel continued.
"She vanished."
"The police searched."
"Everyone searched."
"They found nothing."
Jessie whispered,
"How long?"
There was a long silence.
Then...
"Forty eight minutes."
Jessie's knees weakened.
Exactly.
Almost exactly the same.
"What happened when she came back?"
The crying stopped.
When Rachel finally spoke again...
Her voice sounded empty.
"She knew where everything was."
"She knew our names."
"She hugged me."
Jessie swallowed.
"But?"
Rachel whispered...
"...she isn't my daughter."
Chapter Four
Jessie couldn't speak.
Rachel continued.
"She keeps asking strange questions."
"What kind of questions?"
"She asked why we'd painted the kitchen."
"We haven't."
"She asked where the old swing had gone."
"We've never had one."
Jessie's breathing became uneven.
Her mind drifted back to Lizzy.
"Where's the treehouse?"
"Grandpa built it."
Except...
Grandpa had died before they were born.
Rachel's voice trembled.
"Last night..."
"I woke up."
"She was standing beside my bed."
Jessie's grip tightened around the phone.
"What did she say?"
Rachel began crying again.
"She smiled."
"And whispered..."
"...'I think your real daughter is still waiting.'"
Silence filled the room.
Jessie slowly sat down.
She knew those words.
Or at least...
She knew exactly who they were meant for.
Chapter Five
Jessie finished her shift three hours later.
She barely remembered it.
Everything felt distant.
Automatic.
As she reached her flat, dawn was beginning to break.
She unlocked the door.
Stepped inside.
And froze.
The lights were on.
She never left lights on.
Every cupboard stood open.
Nothing had been stolen.
Nothing had been broken.
Someone had simply...
Looked.
On her kitchen table sat a small brown envelope.
No stamp.
No address.
Just her name.
Jessie Harper
Her hands began to shake.
She already knew what she would find before she opened it.
Inside was a single folded piece of paper.
Three typed words.
YOU LEFT AGAIN.
The paper slipped from her fingers.
Then her mobile phone vibrated.
A text message.
Unknown Number.
It contained no words.
Only a photograph.
A photograph of Blackwater Tunnel.
Taken only moments earlier.
Standing at the entrance...
Was a little barefoot girl.
Her face hidden by her hair.
But Jessie recognised the pink jumper immediately.
It was the same one Lizzy had been wearing...
Fifteen years ago.
Chapter Six
Jessie barely slept.
She left every light on in the flat.
The photograph lay on her kitchen table where she'd dropped it.
She couldn't stop staring at it.
The little girl standing at the tunnel entrance...
The pink jumper.
The muddy legs.
The bare feet.
It had to be old.
It had to be.
Yet...
The trees surrounding the tunnel were in full summer bloom.
Exactly as they were now.
Not fifteen years ago.
At eight o'clock that morning, her phone rang again.
Rachel.
"She's gone."
Jessie's heart lurched.
"What do you mean?"
"I woke up..."
"...and Emily wasn't in her room."
Jessie stood so quickly her chair crashed backwards.
"Have you called the police?"
"They're already here."
"They've searched the house."
"The garden."
"The woods."
"Nothing."
Rachel paused.
Then whispered...
"They've gone back to the tunnel."
Chapter Seven
Jessie booked the next train home.
She hadn't returned to Blackwater unexpectedly in fifteen years.
The journey felt longer than she remembered.
Every passing village.
Every familiar road.
Every mile brought memories flooding back.
The station hadn't changed.
Neither had the café opposite.
Even the florist on the corner still displayed the same wooden sign.
Only Jessie had changed.
Or so she'd believed.
A familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Jess?"
She turned.
Lizzy stood smiling beside her car.
Now twenty six.
Long dark hair.
The same bright green eyes.
The same gentle smile.
For a moment...
Everything felt normal.
The sisters hugged.
Jessie held on longer than usual.
"You look tired," Lizzy said.
"I didn't sleep."
"I heard."
"Heard what?"
"About the little girl."
Jessie frowned.
"I haven't told anyone."
Lizzy smiled.
"No..."
"You didn't."
Chapter Eight
Driving through Blackwater felt surreal.
Every corner carried a memory.
Every street felt smaller than Jessie remembered.
Eventually they reached their parents' house.
Nothing had changed.
The same blue front door.
The same rose bushes.
Even Max's old kennel still stood in the garden.
Although Max himself had passed away years before.
Mum hugged Jessie so tightly she could barely breathe.
Dad looked older.
Slower.
But relieved.
Over dinner, nobody mentioned the tunnel.
Instead they talked about work.
Neighbours.
Family.
Normal things.
Then...
Without warning...
Lizzy asked,
"Do you still hear her?"
The room fell silent.
Mum frowned.
"Hear who?"
Lizzy looked confused.
"I..."
She blinked.
"...I don't know."
Jessie stared at her.
That wasn't confusion.
She'd seen that expression before.
Fifteen years ago.
Chapter Nine
The police had closed the tunnel.
At least...
That's what the barriers suggested.
Yellow tape stretched across the entrance.
Two police vehicles remained parked nearby.
Jessie stood watching from across the road.
Rachel sat on a bench wrapped in a blanket.
She looked exhausted.
As Jessie approached, Rachel immediately stood.
"You came."
Jessie nodded.
"I'm sorry."
Rachel burst into tears.
"They found her."
Relief flooded through Jessie's body.
"They did?"
Rachel slowly shook her head.
"No."
"They found..."
"...someone."
Jessie's stomach tightened.
"What do you mean?"
Rachel looked towards the tunnel.
"They found a little girl."
"Barefoot."
"Covered in mud."
Jessie's heart began pounding.
"Emily?"
Rachel closed her eyes.
"No."
"The police don't know who she is."
"They've checked every missing child database."
"Nobody's reported her missing."
Jessie whispered,
"Can I see her?"
Rachel nodded.
"She keeps asking for you."
Chapter Ten
The interview room felt strangely cold.
A police officer quietly unlocked the door.
"She's been calm."
"But..."
He hesitated.
"...she says some unusual things."
Jessie slowly stepped inside.
A little girl sat colouring at the table.
Barefoot.
Pink jumper.
Long brown hair.
She looked up as Jessie entered.
Then smiled.
Not happily.
Relieved.
"I knew you'd come back this time."
Jessie's mouth went dry.
"What's your name?"
The little girl tilted her head.
"You know my name."
"No..."
"I don't."
The little girl frowned.
Then quietly said,
"That's funny."
"You remembered last time."
Jessie's entire body froze.
The little girl pushed the colouring book across the table.
"I've been drawing while I waited."
Jessie looked down.
Every page contained the same picture.
The tunnel.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Except...
This time there were people inside.
Not one child.
Not two.
Hundreds.
Standing silently in the darkness.
Watching.
At the very back of the drawing...
Jessie noticed something that made her blood run cold.
A woman.
Wearing a midwife's uniform.
She looked remarkably like Jessie.
Only...
Older.
And standing beside her...
Was a little barefoot girl holding her hand.
The little girl looked back up at Jessie and smiled.
Then whispered...
"You're much later than last time."
Chapter Eleven
Jessie couldn't take her eyes off the drawing.
Hundreds of people stood inside the tunnel.
Children.
Teenagers.
Adults.
Some were holding hands.
Others simply stared forwards.
None of them had faces.
Only one person did.
The woman in the midwife's uniform.
Jessie.
Or...
Someone who looked exactly like her.
"What is this?" she whispered.
The little girl shrugged.
"You."
Jessie slowly shook her head.
"No..."
"I've never been there."
The little girl's smile faded.
"Not yet."
A chill spread through Jessie's body.
"What do you mean?"
"You always come back."
The interview room door suddenly opened.
The police officer stepped inside.
"Everything alright?"
Jessie looked towards him.
When she looked back...
The drawing had changed.
The faceless figures had vanished.
Now it was just a child colouring inside a tunnel.
Nothing unusual.
The officer frowned.
"You look like you've seen a ghost."
Jessie slowly closed the colouring book.
"I think..."
"...I just have."
Chapter Twelve
Rachel was waiting outside.
"Did she say anything?"
Jessie hesitated.
"Has she told you her name?"
Rachel nodded.
"Emily."
Jessie frowned.
"No."
"I mean before she disappeared."
Rachel's expression changed.
"What?"
"What was your daughter's name before she went into the tunnel?"
Rachel stared at her.
"It... was Emily."
Jessie searched her face.
She wasn't lying.
She genuinely believed it.
Jessie remembered something from fifteen years earlier.
"Who's this?"
"This is Max."
"Of course..."
"I knew that."
The tunnel didn't simply change people.
It changed...
Memories.
She turned back towards the interview room.
The little girl was now looking directly through the observation window.
Straight at her.
Then...
Very slowly...
The child raised one finger.
And pointed...
Not at Jessie.
Behind her.
Chapter Thirteen
Jessie spun around.
The corridor was empty.
Only Lizzy stood at the far end.
She smiled and waved.
"Ready to go?"
Jessie looked back through the glass.
The interview room was empty.
The little girl had disappeared.
The police officer rushed past.
"Where's the child?"
Jessie's stomach dropped.
"What do you mean?"
"She was just here!"
Officers flooded the room.
Every exit was locked.
Every corridor was searched.
No windows had been opened.
No alarms had sounded.
The little girl had simply...
Vanished.
Jessie quietly looked towards Lizzy.
"Did you see her?"
Lizzy frowned.
"See who?"
"The little girl."
"What little girl?"
Jessie didn't answer.
She was beginning to understand something terrifying.
Maybe...
Not everyone could see the same reality anymore.
Chapter Fourteen
That night Jessie couldn't sleep.
She was staying in her old bedroom.
Nothing had changed.
The same posters.
The same bookshelf.
Even the crack in the ceiling she used to imagine looked like a dragon.
At exactly 3:12 a.m...
She woke.
Someone was humming.
A lullaby.
Soft.
Gentle.
It was coming from the garden.
Jessie looked through the curtains.
A little girl stood beside the old swing.
Barefoot.
Pink jumper.
Head lowered.
Slowly swinging backwards and forwards.
The swing hadn't been there when Jessie went to bed.
Her breath caught in her throat.
The little girl looked up.
It wasn't Emily.
It wasn't Lizzy.
Jessie had never seen her before.
The child smiled sadly.
Then pointed towards the road.
Towards...
The tunnel.
Chapter Fifteen
Jessie followed.
She didn't remember leaving the house.
Or putting on her shoes.
One moment she was standing at the bedroom window.
The next...
She was halfway down the road.
The tunnel stood ahead.
Silent.
Empty.
Waiting.
The little girl was nowhere to be seen.
Jessie stopped a few metres from the entrance.
A familiar voice drifted out of the darkness.
"Jessie..."
It wasn't a child.
It was her own voice.
Perfectly copied.
"I'm in here."
Jessie felt every muscle in her body tense.
Again.
"Jessie..."
"Please..."
"I'm scared."
She knew that voice better than anyone.
It was hers.
Exactly hers.
Then another voice echoed from somewhere deeper inside.
This one belonged to Lizzy.
Followed by another.
Her mum.
Her dad.
Rachel.
Emily.
One by one...
The tunnel began filling with voices.
All calling her name.
All begging her to come inside.
Jessie took one step backwards.
Then realised...
Someone was standing beside her.
She turned slowly.
Lizzy smiled.
Without looking at the tunnel, she quietly asked...
"How do you know which voice is really yours?"
Chapter Sixteen
Jessie couldn't stop hearing the voices.
They continued long after she'd walked away from the tunnel.
Her own voice.
Lizzy's.
Her mum's.
Her dad's.
Even Max barking.
All calling her back.
She hadn't noticed she'd begun crying until Lizzy gently took her arm.
"Jess..."
"You okay?"
Jessie looked at her younger sister.
For the first time in years...
She asked the question she'd been too afraid to ask.
"Lizzy..."
"When you disappeared..."
"...what do you remember?"
Lizzy didn't answer immediately.
Instead...
She looked towards the tunnel.
Then quietly said,
"I remember being alone."
"I remember hearing you."
"You kept calling my name."
Jessie's eyes filled with tears.
"I did."
Lizzy slowly shook her head.
"No..."
"It wasn't you."
A cold shiver ran through Jessie's body.
"It sounded exactly like you."
"It kept saying..."
"Jessie went home."
"She doesn't want you anymore."
Jessie's knees weakened.
"I never stopped looking for you."
Lizzy smiled sadly.
"I know."
"I just didn't know that then."
Before Jessie could speak again...
A police siren echoed through the village.
Someone else had disappeared.
Chapter Seventeen
The missing child wasn't Emily.
It was another little boy.
Nine years old.
He had wandered away while his parents were walking their dog.
The search ended exactly forty nine minutes later.
He walked out of the tunnel.
Smiling.
His parents cried with relief.
The police celebrated.
Only Jessie noticed something.
The boy stopped walking as he passed her.
He looked up.
Tilted his head.
Then quietly whispered...
"You came back."
Jessie stared after him.
He'd never met her.
Then...
Every child leaving the search area turned to look at Jessie.
Every single one.
Only for a second.
As though recognising her.
Or...
Remembering her.
Chapter Eighteen
Jessie returned to the tunnel one final time.
Alone.
She wasn't going inside.
She only wanted to say goodbye.
Instead...
She heard footsteps behind her.
Rachel.
"What are you doing here?"
Rachel held something tightly against her chest.
"My daughter drew this."
She handed Jessie a folded piece of paper.
Jessie opened it.
Her blood froze.
It was a family portrait.
Rachel.
Her husband.
Emily.
And...
One extra little girl.
Standing between them.
Rachel whispered,
"We only have one child."
Jessie slowly turned the page over.
On the back...
Written in childish handwriting...
Were five simple words.
They never come alone.
Chapter Nineteen
Jessie finally understood.
The tunnel didn't replace children.
It added them.
Another version.
Another possibility.
Another life.
Sometimes the copy stayed.
Sometimes the original.
Sometimes...
Neither.
She looked back towards the darkness.
"I know you're listening."
Silence.
Then...
For the first time...
Something answered.
Not a child.
Not a copied voice.
Something old.
Something impossibly deep.
A voice that seemed to come from the walls themselves.
"We don't take."
Jessie's heart pounded.
"Then what do you do?"
A long silence.
Then...
"We return..."
"...the ones who almost existed."
Jessie's mind reeled.
"What does that mean?"
The voice continued.
"There is never..."
"...only one life."
The tunnel fell silent again.
Jessie stepped backwards.
She suddenly realised...
The thing inside wasn't evil.
It wasn't trying to steal anyone.
It believed...
It was fixing something.
Chapter Twenty
Jessie never returned to Blackwater again.
A month later, she transferred to another hospital.
Another city.
Another life.
She buried herself in work once more.
Helping babies into the world.
Watching exhausted parents hold their children for the very first time.
One rainy evening...
A young couple arrived for a routine twenty week pregnancy scan.
Jessie greeted them warmly.
The sonographer smiled.
"Would you like to know if you're having a boy or a girl?"
The couple laughed.
"Yes."
The scan began.
The baby's heartbeat echoed around the room.
Strong.
Healthy.
Perfect.
Then...
The sonographer frowned.
"That's strange."
"What is it?"
"I've..."
She leaned closer to the monitor.
"...I've never seen this before."
Jessie looked at the screen.
One baby.
Then...
For the briefest moment...
A second heartbeat appeared beside it.
Another tiny outline.
Another baby.
It vanished almost instantly.
The sonographer blinked.
"Huh."
"Must've been a reflection."
The parents laughed nervously.
Jessie didn't.
Because just before it disappeared...
The second baby had turned its tiny head.
And looked directly at her.
Smiling.
The lights in the scan room flickered.
For less than a second...
The ultrasound screen changed.
No baby.
No womb.
Only the familiar darkness of Blackwater Tunnel.
Standing inside it...
Were hundreds of children.
All smiling.
At the very front stood the little barefoot girl.
She slowly raised one finger.
Pointing...
Not at Jessie.
At the pregnant woman lying on the bed.
Then the image vanished.
Everything was normal again.
Nobody else reacted.
Nobody else had seen it.
Jessie quietly looked out through the rain covered hospital window.
Hundreds of miles away...
Blackwater Tunnel still stood.
Waiting.
And somewhere inside...
A frightened little girl's voice whispered one last time.
"We're still here."
The End...
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