Every bad thought hit me at once.
The locked door. The secrecy. The way the girls looked at it. A dead wife. A basement Daniel never opened around me.
At the door, she looked up at me and said, “You just have to open it.”
I should have waited. I know that now.
My mouth went dry. “Does Daddy take you down there?”
She nodded. “Sometimes. When he misses her.”
That did not help.
I tried the knob. Locked.
Grace said, “It’s okay. Mommy is there.”
Instead, I pulled two hairpins from my bun and knelt by the lock with shaking hands.
Emily stood beside me, sniffling. Grace bounced on her toes.
The lock clicked.
I froze.
Grace whispered, “See?”
I opened the door.
The basement was dim, but I could see enough.
A sharp smell hit me first. Sour. Damp.
I took one step down, then another.
And then my fear changed.
It wasn’t a body.
It wasn’t some hidden nightmare.
It was a shrine.
