Mother-screams, child-screams, and the door was buckling and shaking, incredible violence causing it to quiver on its hinges, and Amy-Lynn could not be sure if the shaking was because of her or because of some other terrifying, unknown force on the other side of the door.
She kept clawing at the door, at the door jamb, at the doorknob, frantic, the movements sending shocks of sound through the house as her panic-soaked muscles worked frenzied music on the wood and metal.
Then she slowed as she became aware of another noise, one underneath the sounds she was making. Low, guttural, growling. The sound of damnation come to visit.
And at the sound, the doorway splintered as something hit it from the basement side. Something powerful. Deadly.
Sean stopped screaming. Suddenly. Forever.
Amy-Lynn redoubled her efforts, trying to get in, to break in, to find her way in to her boy, to her baby.
She couldn't do it.
But still she tried, until exhaustion drove her inexorably to her knees in front of the door, a weeping mass of threadbare muscle and pain-ridden mind.
Then....
Click.
The door...
...swung...
...open.
Amy-Lynn looked into the basement. Only a few moments before it had been clean and inviting, full of light and the easy order of a house well kept. Now, it was dark. Dim. Frightening.
Amy-Lynn looked into the basement, trying to pierce the darkness with eyes weary from screams and tears.
She looked into the basement.
And finally, she saw.
And began to scream.
And was still screaming three hours later, when Ron came home to find her curled on the floor in front of the basement, shrieking and screaming and praying to God to send her back her son.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michaelbrent Collings is a lawyer, screenwriter, black-belt martial artist, father, husband, and has a killer backhand on the badminton court. He has written several other books, has published dozens of articles on several continents, and is currently writing a number of television shows and movies. He has a Facebook page, and if you search for "Michaelbrent" on Facebook you'll find him, guaranteed (like it or not, there is only one "Michaelbrent" in the whole world). Or, if you wish, you can follow him on Twitter by following mbcollings.
He also has a website and blog at michaelbrentcollings.com, and double dog dares you to check it out.
Michaelbrent resides in Los Angeles, California, with his wife, two kids, and several imaginary friends, all of whom are too cool to invite Michaelbrent to their parties.
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