FABLE

Voices in the Dark

The Secret Hidden Behind Our Living Room Wall

Marcus: Sarah... there are multiple people down there!

Sarah: How is that possible?! My father went to prison eight years ago!

Marcus: WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?! HOW DID YOU GET IN THERE?!

Voice 1: Arthur Sterling... he locked us in... eight years ago...

Sarah stumbled back, her hand flying to her mouth as tears spilled down her cheeks.

Sarah: Arthur Sterling... that was my father's name!

Voice 2: Please... we have no food... the automated water filtration system stopped working three days ago...

Marcus: Sarah, dial 911 right now! Tell the operator we need emergency services, paramedics, and police at this address immediately!

Sarah: Marcus... if I call the police... they'll investigate my father's entire estate! They'll seize the house! We'll lose everything!

Marcus: ARE YOU CRAZY?! THERE ARE HUMAN BEINGS TRAPPED UNDER OUR LIVING ROOM FLOOR!

Sarah: You don't understand! My father's former business partners... if they find out this vault was opened, they will come for us!

Marcus: I don't give a damn about your father's criminal associates! Call 911 or I will!

Marcus grabbed his phone, but before he could dial, a raspy, weak voice spoke again from the darkness of the doorway.

Voice 1: Sarah... is that... is that Sarah?

Sarah froze in her tracks, her entire body turning rigid with fear.

Sarah: Who... who knows my name?!

Voice 1: Sarah... it's Aunt Eleanor...

Sarah's phone dropped from her fingers, clattering onto the hardwood floor. She rushed forward toward the steel door, ignoring Marcus's shouts of warning.

Sarah: Aunt Eleanor?! Everyone said you died in a car crash ten years ago!

Eleanor: Your father... he didn't crash the car, child... he kidnapped me and my husband... when we found out about his illegal offshore accounts...

Marcus: Your own father imprisoned his sister and her husband beneath his house?!

Eleanor: He couldn't kill us... he was too cowardly... so he built this bunker... fed us through a airlock door... and left us here when the FBI arrested him!

Sarah: Oh God... my whole life... my whole inheritance... was built on a monster's crime!

Marcus: Sarah, pull her out! Help me pull her out!

Marcus gripped the steel door and pushed it open wider. He reached into the gloom, grabbing the frail, bony hands of an elderly woman clothed in tattered, faded garments. Beside her stood an equally frail elderly man, his eyes blinking painfully against the bright living room lights.

Eleanor: Light... real light...

Marcus: I've got you. Step up carefully. Watch the ledge.

As Marcus lifted Eleanor into the living room, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed from the driveway outside. Bright headlights flashed through the living room windows, illuminating the dust swirling in the air.

Sarah: Someone just pulled up into our driveway, Marcus!

Marcus: Is it the police?

Sarah: No... it's a black SUV with tinted windows!

ishant

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