*****
“It won’t open Trace.” Mike said through gritted teeth as he yanked on the doorknob to the door of the hidden stairwell. “It turns but it won’t open.” He let loose of the doorknob took a step back and kicked the door with all his might. “Son of a bitch!” He yelled as his leg banged off the door not even making a splinter in it. The impact sent a searing pain shooting up his leg and into his spine. “You son of a bitch, open the God damned door!” He yelled in frustration.
“Mike.” Tracy grabbed his arm as he brought it back, no doubt to hit the door again. “You are just going to hurt yourself.”
“What’s going on up there? You ok?” Grant’s voice rang through the walkie Tracy had clipped to her pants pocket. “What was that noise? The whole house shook!”
She held the walkie up to her mouth and pressed the button on the side. “Yeah we are fine the door to the hidden stairs is stuck so we were trying to open it.”
“Oh ok.” Grant said with a hint of relief in his voice. “I’m still looking for the breakers. No luck yet but I found a small room so I’m going to check it out. This basement is huge I think it’s actually bigger than the house is.”
“Bigger than the house?” She asked through the walkie.
“Yeah the room directly under the house is as wide and as long as the house, but there are at least seven doors that lead further out.” Grant paused for a second. “I couldn’t get one open but even the room that is open goes out further than the house does.”
“Well, be careful ok.”
“You guys too.” He said.
“That’s weird.” Mike said to Tracy as she clipped the walkie back onto the pocket of her pants. “We need to find a way in here.” He turned back to the door.
“Let’s go check upstairs maybe she’s up there.”
“She has to be in here. The door was opened earlier and now it’s sealed shut. That can’t be a coincidence.” He placed his hand on the door. “We have to get in there. If anything happens to her…” His voice trailed off.
“We’ll find her Mike.” Tracy reached up and tugged on his shoulder. “Let’s go upstairs and see what we can find.” She led the two out of the room and slowly shining their lights in every direction lighting every inch of the house, they made their way to the front room. “Wait a sec.” Tracy stopped at the front door placed her hand on the knob and turned. To her surprise the door knob turned and the door popped open. “Well we aren’t stuck.” She opened the door and looked out shining her light towards the cars that sat in the driveway. “Not there.” Tracy let out a sigh as she closed the door. “Wishful thinking I guess.”
“She was scared stiff. She was right there I let go for a second and she was gone.” His voice was full of anger. “I shouldn’t have let go…”
“It’s not your fault.” Tracy shined her light up the stairs. There was the slightest glimmer of white as her light reached the top of the stairs. “What was that?” She asked in a surprised tone.
Mike quickly shined his flashlight up the stairs stopping at the top with hers. “What? What did you see?”
“I’m not sure.” She slowly made her way up the stairs.
“Wait. I should go first.”
She looked down towards him and gave him a smile. “Size doesn’t really matter in this situation.” She turned and slowly resumed her ascent of the stairs.
Unliving Love Page 30