We often reassure our children that their fears are just bad dreams. But for one family, a child’s nighttime terror turned out to be a vital warning. It began with a whispered 911 call from a little girl who insisted someone was in her room. When a police officer arrived, he took her fear seriously. While her mother thought it was a nightmare, the girl silently pointed to a vent in her wall. What the officer discovered there was every parent’s worst nightmare.
The vent concealed an abandoned dumbwaiter shaft, and inside were clear signs that someone had been using it as a secret hiding place. The community was shocked to learn that a stranger had been living undetected within the walls of a family home. The incident forced everyone to look at their own homes differently, checking for forgotten spaces and improving security. The story is a powerful lesson in listening to our children’s instincts. Their fears can sometimes be rooted in a reality we are too busy or too rational to see, and their small voices can be the key to uncovering a hidden threat.
