“Hello?” I whispered back.

And I smiled.

“It’s an old apartment, Leo,” he’d say, tapping the cracked surface with his knuckles. “Old things settle. They creak. It’s not a mystery.”

Find a line where Leo changes from being scared to being curious. Write it here.

I heard a knock. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Do you think Leo will try to pull Eleanor back? Would you? Why or why not? That night, at 2:17 a.m., I didn’t hear a whisper.

I didn’t sleep for the rest of the night.

I thought fast. “Why did you whisper? Why not just yell?”

One night, I pressed my ear to the cold surface.

Eleanor’s face softened. “Because I was scared. I’ve been alone for three decades, Leo. I forgot what my own voice sounded like. I started with whispers because I wasn’t sure anyone was listening.”

I blinked. “What?”

Who or what wrote “TRAPPED”? List two possible explanations—one realistic and one imaginative. My heart hammered. I wasn’t scared. I was seen . Someone—something—knew I was here. For the first time since we moved to this gray city, I didn’t feel invisible.

Sketch a small picture of Leo pressing his ear to the wall. What expression is on his face? Add two adjectives to describe the setting. The next day at school, I told my best friend, Maya, about it during lunch.