Chapter 2: What Lives Below
Ryan dropped to his knees beside his son.
"Danny, who is that?
Who's down there?"
The boy wouldn't answer.
He just kept pushing crackers through the vent, his small hand trembling.
Ryan grabbed the flashlight from the kitchen drawer and shone it into the gap.
A pair of eyes stared back.
Wide.
Terrified.
Human.
He spun around.
"Caroline.
What is this?"
She was pressed against the wall, arms wrapped around herself.
"Ryan, please.
Just let me explain—"
"Explain what?
There is a child under our floor."
"She needed somewhere safe." Her voice cracked.
"I didn't know what else to do."
"How long?"
Caroline looked away.
"How long has she been down there?"
"…Three weeks."
The flashlight shook in Ryan's hand.
Three weeks.
While he had eaten dinner at that table, watched television in the next room, slept upstairs — a child had been living beneath his feet.
"Who is she, Caroline?"
His wife opened her mouth.
Closed it.
Then Danny tugged Ryan's sleeve and whispered something that made Ryan's bl00d run c0ld.
"Daddy.
She said if anyone finds her, the bad man will come back."
Ryan slowly stood up and looked at his wife.
Her eyes were full of tears — but also something else.
Fear.
The kind that doesn't go away when the danger is gone.
What Ryan found out next — and who that little girl really was — will leave you speechless.
The full story is in the link below.
May you like
Some secrets don't stay buried for long.
👇
