Today had been a short half day, and there’d been no after-school soccer practice thanks to a mandated state test, so I’d decided to stop by and visit with my parents.
It was my good daughter deed of the week.
“Mom?”
Still nothing.
I headed toward the basement, the only place they could be and not hear me screaming their names, and descended the steps.
I was on the fourth step and looking down when something weird caught my eye.
What the…
There was a break in the wall of the basement.
A doorway.
Something I’d never noticed before.
I frowned hard as I got to the concrete floor of the basement.
Something made me stay silent.
Some inner voice that told me if I called out, I’d hate myself.
So instead, I crept toward the doorway, my ears listening hard as I picked up the quiet murmur of voices.
“Eddy will be here soon. We need to wrap this up.”
My mom’s voice.
“She’s not supposed to be here for at least another hour.”
Dad’s voice.
I walked to the edge of the wall and peeked inside.
What I saw had my knees weakening.
Bile instantly rose in my throat.
With shaky fingers, I lifted my phone from the pocket of my jeans and hit the camera button on my home screen.
When the red icon popped up, I lifted my phone and took a video of what I saw.
I didn’t know what all I got on video.
I was shaking too badly to make sure.
Only when I was sure I’d gotten enough did I back away from the room and shove the phone back into my pocket.
I climbed the stairs as quietly as I could.
Then I ran.
Straight to the sheriff.
Two
