by Lynn Moon
“I agree,” Hunter said. “There has to be something around here we’ve missed.”
As Quinton dragged stuff out of the closet, the rest of us examined the walls for a hidden switch.
“In my father’s closet, there was a lamp.” Running my eyes over the walls, I laughed.
“What?” Hunter asked.
“It’s so simple that we missed it,” I replied.
“Missed what?” Charlie asked, staring at me as if I had lost my mind.
“It’s right here in plain sight.”
“What is?” Hunter narrowed his eyes at me.
Deeper in the closet, I stopped a few inches from the back wall. Reaching up, I touched the coat rack. It was a long, rectangular piece of wood with four knobs.
“I pulled on that,” Hunter said, tapping his foot on the dusty wooden floor.
“Pulled, yes,” I said, smiling, “But you didn’t push it up. Did you? There’s scrape marks on the wall above it.”
Placing a hand on each end of the coat rack, I gave it a little shove. The wooden bracket slid easily upward until it snapped into place. Along with the metallic click, a door—much smaller than a regular door—swung open, revealing an ominous passageway.
“Ta da,” I said, holding out my arm.
“We need flashlights,” Hunter said, trying to see into the dark.
“We need our backpacks,” I added.
“Mine’s at home,” Charlie whined.
“I’ll be back,” I replied. “Don’t go into that . . . that . . . thing until I return.”
Not wanting to raise suspicion, I inched down the kitchen stairs. But before I could grab anything, Katrina popped her head out of the laundry room.
“Need anything?” she asked.
“We’re thirsty,” I replied, pulling four waters from the fridge.
“Okay,” she said, basically ignoring me.
I returned to my friends huddling near the mysterious passageway and dropped my gym bag on the floor.
“What’s that for?” Charlie asked. “We’re not exercising.”
“As always, Katrina’s in the kitchen. If I grabbed my book bag, she’d asked questions,” I replied. “This is all I had in my room.”
Quinton fumbled through the bag, pulling out four flashlights and the bottles of water.
“You got the important stuff,” Hunter said. “Let’s go already.”
Unlike the passageway that used to be in my closet, this one didn’t go both directions. It was as if we were at the start of the maze rather than somewhere in the middle. Where will it take us? Maybe into the pits of Hell?
“Why didn’t my father add lights?” I asked.
“Because if there were holes in the walls, the light would have given the secret away,” Hunter answered. “Plus, if someone left a light on, it could cause a fire. No, better to just use flashlights and sneak around.”
“Yes, perhaps you’re right,” I said. “Not a lot of dust in here. I’ll bet someone’s been using this passageway, and not too long ago, either.”
“Yeah,” Charlie said. “Your dead uncle.”
“Ha ha ha,” I said, watching where I was stepping.
Hunter took the lead, with me second, Charlie third, and Quinton pulling up the rear. The lineup made me feel safe. I was pretty sure it made Charlie feel a little better too.
“Stairs here. Be careful,” Hunter said as his head went down. “No railing. Nothing to hold onto.”
“Okay,” I replied. I glanced back at Charlie. “Ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she replied.
The passageway was much narrower than the others we had found. Not a lot of air flow, either. The more we walked, the more dust we kicked up, and the more I sneezed.
“Guess it’s not as clean as I thought,” I said.
Charlie coughed.
Glancing up, the eeriness of the vast emptiness gave me the chills. Then a thought struck me. “Hey, Hunter?”
“Yes?”
“Look up.” I flashed my light straight up.
“I know, empty. Under us it probably goes straight down several floors.”
“What?” Charlie almost screamed at the idea.
“Maybe we should spread out a little,” I said. “What if these boards are rotten? We could fall through.”
“I’ve been testing them,” Hunter replied. “They seem solid. I’m sure who ever built these built them to last. I honestly believe we have nothing to worry about.”
“Famous last words,” Quinton said from behind.
Before anyone could answer, a loud creak sounded through the walls. It almost reminded me of an old horror movie just before the monster jumped out and ate somebody.
“What was that?” Charlie yelped.
“I’m sure it’s just the house settling,” Hunter said from somewhere ahead.
“It feels like the walls are closing in on us,” Quinton said from somewhere behind.
“They are,” Hunter replied. “It gets narrow up here. Turn sideways. It’s easier to walk.”
The thought of being stuck and rotting between the walls of my house unnerved me.
“Wouldn’t it suck to get stuck in here?” Quinton yelled.
“Quinton, what a terrible thing to say,” I yelled back. “But I was just thinking the same thing.”
We all laughed. Except for Charlie. She stayed quiet.
“More stairs going down,” Hunter said from the darkness. “I’ll wait for you to catch up.”
Inching between the walls, I wondered where we were. We came down one flight of stairs, which meant we were somewhere on the third floor. But where, exactly? It was hard to tell.
“Any idea where we are?” I asked.
“I think we’re between the spare room and hallway,” Hunter surmised. “Not real sure. I wish I had a map.”
“I wished I had a lot of things,” Quinton added.
“Are you okay, Charlie?” I asked. “You’re awfully quiet back there.”
No answer from Charlie.
“Charlie?” I asked. “Where are you?”
Again, no answer from Charlie.
“Quinton, is Charlie in front of you?”
“She was,” he replied, shinning his light toward me. Panic filled my heart. His light should have hit Charlie, not me.
“Where’s Charlie?” I screamed.
“She was right here a moment ago,” Quinton answered. “Just after that loud creaking sound.”
“Hunter, come back! Charlie’s gone,” I yelled.
“How can she be gone?” Hunter asked, inching back to us.
“I don’t know . . . Quinton, turn around. Find her!”
“I didn’t lose her,” he said, taking several steps backwards. “There’s no room for her to get around me. She has to be here.”
I flashed my light directly into his face. “Do you see her between us?” I screamed. “Back up, back up!”
“I’m backing up.” He yelled, “Charlie? Where are you?”
“Oh, no!” I cringed at the thought. “She must have fallen through the floor.”
“If she’d fallen through, Quinton would have followed after her.” I could tell that Hunter was about to panic too. “Check the walls for openings. Quinton, you look up, I’ll check down here. Check both sides. Musetta, you just look everywhere.”
With each side step we took, our lights flashed in all directions. I was blinded several times after being hit straight on by one of the flashlights, forcing my eyes to re-adjust constantly. Some areas were so tight that I couldn’t see much below my knees. I wanted to get down and crawl to get a closer look, but I couldn’t turn around. As we inched our way back up to my attic, my tears fell.
“What if my uncle took her?” I asked.
“Then we’ll find her,” Quinton replied.
It seemed to take forever, but eventually air from the attic touched my face. And still no sign of Charlie. I broke down.
“Now what do we do?” I a
sked between sobs. “What could have happened to her?”
“Let’s get Sheriff Jim,” Quinton said.
“She was right behind me,” I yelled.
“Was . . .” Quinton whispered.
***
Sheriff Jim and Charlie’s mother arrived at about the same time. Auntie Delphie and Auntie Roe were still scolding me for losing my friend when they arrived. And my mother? She refused to stop crying. Maybe everyone would believe me now. Maybe they’d finally understand what I was going through.
“Alright,” Sheriff Jim said as he glared through his reading glasses. “I’ve been getting little bits and pieces of this story from you kids. You’re not telling me everything. I need to know exactly what’s been going on around here.”
Lowering his head, Hunter replied, “I wish we knew, sir.”
“I’d ask you to start at the beginning,” Sheriff Jim said. “Except I’m not sure where the beginning is, exactly.”
The three of us kept glancing around the room. Maybe we were hoping that the answers would suddenly appear. Or maybe that Charlie would suddenly appear. I’d have even appreciated it right now if my father’s ghost would appear.
“Who wants to start?” Sheriff Jim asked.
The three of us started talking. I began at the beginning, with my weekly night visits. Quinton talked about the dead girl, Lavender. And Hunter, well, he explained about his mother being my dad’s replacement and the birth certificates. With us all taking about something different and all at the same time, nothing was making any sense to anybody.
“Stop!” Sheriff Jim said, holding up his hands. “This isn’t working.” As he walked around the kitchen, our eyes followed him. “Okay. Since this all started with Musetta, I’ll ask her to explain first.”
Shaking my head, I cried into my hands as more tears fell.
“Well, that’s not helping,” Sheriff Jim whispered, glancing at my mother.
Auntie Roe raised her hand. “May I? Maybe if I start, the others will join in as they think of something.”
“That works for me.” Sheriff Jim took a seat at the kitchen table.
“I guess one could say that it all started at my brother-in-law’s funeral. We knew things were bad between Mue and her dad. We just didn’t know how bad. Until, that is, she hit him in his casket.”
“I remember.” Sheriff Jim nodded as he scribbled something on his notepad.
“It was Delphina who pulled Mue from the room,” Auntie Roe said. “And it was Delphina’s idea to send Mue to a psychiatrist.”
“Doctor’s name?” Sheriff Jim asked, not taking his eyes from his paper.
“Dr. Shapirro,” Auntie Delphi said.
“Continue,” Sheriff Jim said.
Auntie Roe continued, “I took her a few times and so did my sister. While my niece was in counseling, Ashlynn was pretty sick. She was having a difficult time even getting out of bed. Katrina took care of the house and all.”
Sheriff Jim glanced over at my mom. “I remember, Ashlynn.”
“It was about that time that Mue started talking about her father’s ghost visiting her,” Auntie Roe added.
“I’m aware of that, too,” Sheriff Jim replied. “Can we skip forward a little?”
Auntie Roe glanced at me and smiled.
“We got together and I believe it was Hunter who said he wanted to capture my ghost,” I said.
“Capture your ghost,” Sheriff Jim repeated.
“Yes, sir,” Hunter said. “Since there’s no such thing as ghosts, I knew it had to be a person who was visiting Musetta. A live person. And it couldn’t be her father, either. He was dead.”
“With the help of Hunter’s mom, we discovered that my father had a twin brother,” I said. As soon as I said twin my mother’s head jerked up and her eyes widened. “When I asked my grandmother about an uncle, she said he died as a young child. She didn’t seem at all surprised I even asked about him.”
“You never told me,” Mom said, rubbing her eyes.
“I didn’t know until a little while ago,” I replied. “Besides, I didn’t want to upset you. Not until I knew more. We only have bits and pieces of the whole story.”
“There’s no grave in town for the little boy her grandmother talked about,” Quinton added. “Anywhere. We visited the graveyards ourselves. That little boy just doesn’t exist.”
“That’s right,” I said. “So Charlie and I snooped through my grandparents’ old photos. We found my dad and uncle’s original birth certificates. When we compared them to the ones Hunter’s mom gave us, they didn’t match.” I shook my head and sighed. “They did match, but then again, they did.”
“That’s correct,” Hunter added. “The registrar’s copies had Judge Weavers listed as a single birth, where the hospital listed him as a twin.”
“Interesting,” Sheriff Jim whispered.
I continued, “Before my room was remodeled, we found a secret door inside my closet. That’s how my ghost got in undetected. But you already know about that.”
Sheriff Jim nodded again.
“We explored that passageway and found a second tunnel under this house,” I said. “A much older tunnel.”
“The first one we found goes from the basement to Musetta’s grandparents’ shed,” Quinton said. “The shed that burned down.”
“I’m aware of that tunnel,” the sheriff replied. “It also led to a closet in the judge’s study.”
“We thought if we could find the deeper tunnel again, maybe it would lead us to where Musetta’s uncle is hiding out,” Hunter said. “Her room was remodeled. So we had to find another way to get to it. When we found the hidden doorway in the attic—” Mom and my aunts gasped. I tried to ignore them, but it wasn’t easy. My skin crawled and my stomach tightened. “We followed that passageway,” I said. “After going down one flight of stairs, Charlie disappeared.”
The sheriff turned and glared at his deputy. From his look, I could tell that my best friend was in serious trouble—maybe even life-threatening trouble. He couldn’t have said it any better.
“Deputy Ryan, call in the boys,” Sheriff Jim said. “We’re going to need backup.”
Deputy Ryan nodded and walked outside, speaking into his radio. I couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying. I just knew it wasn’t good. Charlie’s mother finally broke down and cried. My mom hugged her. I wondered if Charlie’s mother would ever forgive me for losing her daughter inside the walls of my house.
CHAPTER 16
FROM MY KITCHEN WINDOW, I watched as the sheriff’s deputies arrived. Some came alone. Others came in groups. Before long, our driveway and street were filled with flashing lights and brown uniforms. I wasn’t sure if I should be happy or sad. Even Hunter and Quinton’s fathers stopped by to see if they could help. But the Sherriff suggested that they wait with my family in the kitchen. Everything was serious and official now.
Hunter and I yelled into the attic’s secret passageway. Still no sign of Charlie or what had happened to her. I sat inside the attic closet and just stared into the darkness.
“If she could get to us,” Quinton said, not taking his eyes off the little door, “she would.”
“I know,” I replied.
“We need to do something,” Quinton said. “Why can’t we go look for her?”
“I believe they’re worried we’ll go missing next,” Hunter said.
“I just can’t sit here and do nothing. We’ve got to try and find her,” Quinton argued.
“And where do you suggest we start?” I asked. “The sheriff searched the basement. They even searched my grandparents’ house.”
“I just can’t sit here and do nothing,” Quinton repeated.
As we argued over what to do next, voices bounced up the main stairs. We watched as several deputies followed Auntie Roe across the dusty attic floor.
“Anything?” Auntie Roe asked.
We shook our heads.
“The sheriff assigned these men to follow the pas
sageway.”
We stood to make room for the deputies. Without talking, they stepped through the small opening and into the darkness. Armed with a flashlight and their handguns, they grunted as they squeezed between the walls.
“A little tight in there,” Hunter yelled out. “And watch out for the—” We cringed as a loud wail echoed through the attic.
“They found the stairs,” I said, shaking my head. “Someone tripped.”
“How dumb can you be?” Quinton asked.
With nothing else to do, I paced the attic floor. We were missing something—but what? The first tunnel we found in the basement led to my grandparents’ shed. Then, in that same tunnel, we found the wooden stairs that led up to the second-floor hallway and ended in my father’s study. The passageway from my closet led to the lower tunnel where my father’s ghost chased us. Now, I was pretty sure that this attic passageway had to break off somewhere to allow a person to either go all the way down or stop at my bedroom closet. Since my room was remodeled, I couldn’t prove that theory. However, I was sure that this attic passageway would take us to where we needed to go: back down to that older tunnel, to save Charlie. This house simply had too many secrets.
“Hey, follow me,” I said abruptly.
I hurried to my room with Hunter and Quinton close behind. Standing on my balcony, I studied my yard and the surrounding hills.
“What’re you thinking?” Hunter asked.
“Well, we found the tunnel that goes to my grandparents’ shed. But where does the other one go? I don’t believe it goes to my grandparents’ house. It has to go someplace else. It looked old. As if it was build a very long time ago.”
Hunter and Quinton glanced over the railing with me.
“My place is across the street,” Quinton said. “And we definitely do not have any tunnels at my house.”
“I only see trees every place else,” Hunter added.
“There are homes all through this canyon,” I replied. “The Lawsons live over there, and the Proper family over there. Where would that tunnel go?”
“This is all country and hillside,” Hunter said. “There could be an old house anywhere, and you’d never see it unless you knew it was there. I didn’t know there were houses up here until I met you two.”