The Girl in the Darkness

by John Triptych

  Brenda gritted her teeth while making her way around the corner of the residence. “Tigger! Come back here!”

  By the time she made it to the side of the house, she saw Tigger picking its way towards the mound of burnt wood that once was a part of Jeff’s tool shed. Brenda was mystified as the cat started sniffing and exploring its way along the weed encrusted ruin.

  She shook her head as she got closer. The tabby’s bandaged foreleg was now coated with ash from the burned planks. The cat didn’t seem to pay any attention to her, as it seemed to be searching for something. “Tigger! Stay away from there,” she called out to the animal. “You could hurt your leg again. Tigger!”

  The cat made its way to the lower portion of the pile, its tail twitching rapidly like an undulating snake. It sat down beside a small opening on the ground before looking up at her and started meowing again.

  Brenda was piqued as she got down to one knee to get a closer look. “What do you think is down there?”

  Squinting her eyes, she could see that it was just a shallow depression. It looked to be part of the original flooring for the shed had burned away, and exposed some sort of concrete foundation. Brenda shook her head in amazement. All these years and she never really noticed it before. She stood back up before walking over to the side door of the house. Opening it, she took a few steps inside before standing in front of an adjoining entryway that contained several shelves full of gardening tools.

  Taking out an old shovel, Brenda walked back over to the pile of wood and started clearing the part near the foundation. . The cat just sat there, observing her while shifting its head back and forth.

  The burned wood gave way easily, though she had to struggle with pushing much of the wreckage from the creeping vines. In less than half an hour, she was able to clear away a few feet and exposed something underneath the old flooring. Using the shovel as a scraping tool, Brenda removed a small layer of dirt and ash until she noticed something peculiar. There seemed to be some sort of trapdoor that had been hidden underneath. She continued to dig away until she was able to clear the dimensions around the apparent opening. By the time she was finished, it looked like it was big enough for a man to fit through. There was a rusty sliding bolt holding a latch in place.

  Brenda dropped the shovel on the ground before going back into the kitchen to get her flashlight. The cat continued to sit silently, like some sort of animal guardian as Brenda walked back to its spot a third time, now with a flashlight in her hand. Using her gardening gloves, she was able to force the old bolt back and unlatched the lock holding the door in place. After getting into a squatting position, she used both hands to pull the trapdoor upwards, exposing a dark hole underneath the earth.

  Holding her breath, Brenda grabbed the flashlight with her right hand, activated it and pointed it down the breach. The chamber underneath seemed to be no taller than five feet, with bricks lining the walls and a dirt floor. A pungent, rotting odor emanated from the underground room. Continuing to shine the light down below, she estimated it to be the size of a small prison cell. As her beam of light got to the far end of the cubicle, it fell upon and exposed an old rotting mattress that had been left there.

  Brenda’s chin trembled as she backed away, the flashlight dropping down on the grassy lawn beside her. What was that hiding place doing down there? What was it used for? How come Jeff never told her about it? More importantly, what made Tigger lead her over to this hidden chamber?

  An ocean of jumbled thoughts and questions cascaded through her mind. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever suspect this secret place existed. For a long time, she just stared out into space, the almost infinite implications of this discovery lost in a storm of unanswered doubts. Slowly but surely, a new, more sinister set of demons began to overwhelm her senses.

  Tears rolled down Brenda’s eyes. Her world was ready to shatter once again. Everything that she once thought was real had been proven to be a lie. Could the husband she once loved and cherished know something about what happened to her daughter? There was a maw of emptiness in her heart, and this recent revelation had produced a spark, a new set of malicious and deceitful thoughts to accompany her newfound awareness of things that were best left in the dark. It was like a Pandora’s Box had just been opened.

  She remembered an article about a cat that tracked its host family down halfway across the country after it got separated. It all seemed so unbelievable, but everything was falling into place. Her daughter was speaking to her. Samantha was out there, crying for help. If Jeff had kept this secret from her, then she needed to know what other things he was hiding. Was it possible he had their daughter? Thought she tried hard to dismiss it, the thought refused to be banished until it became a near certainty in her head.

  Brenda walked slowly back through the kitchen and made her way into the living room. Sitting down by the sofa, she lifted the telephone from its cradle and dialed the number to his office.

  The cheerful receptionist’s voice answered the other line. “Thank you for calling DeVoe Contractors. This is Justine, can I help you?”

  “This is Brenda DeVoe,” she said tersely. “Is Jeff there?”

  Justine sensed the seriousness in her voice. “Hi, Brenda. I’m sorry, but Jeff said he’ll be gone the whole week.”

  “Did he say where he was going?”

  “No, ma’am. I think the only thing he mentioned to me was that he was doing some hunting.”

  “Thank you, goodbye,” Brenda said before she hung up. She quickly dialed the number for his smartphone.

  “Hello, this is Jeff,” his voicemail said. “I’m not available right now so please leave a message after the beep, thanks.”

  Brenda placed the phone back down on the cradle. If he was going hunting then he had to be at the lodge that they once honeymooned in, near Shenandoah National Park. While the hunting of animals was forbidden in Shenandoah, the Rapidan Wildlife Management Area was situated right next to it, and one could hunt there. She started to dial the number for the sheriff’s office.

  A sudden sense of doubt gripped her and she placed the phone back in the cradle before the call went through. What if Jeff was innocent? Maybe it was somebody else? She needed to be sure before accusing him of anything. The only way was to find out for herself by talking to him. Brenda hadn’t been to that lodge for over six years now, and she had no idea with what to expect if she went over there alone. She needed help, but who? Brenda quickly dialed another number and waited for an answer.

  It was an automated recording from the telecom company. “We’re sorry, but the number you are calling has been switched off, or out of coverage area, please try again later.”

  Brenda bit her lip as she hung up. Detective Addison Draper wasn’t around apparently. She needed someone she could trust, but who? Remembering his number, she dialed again and waited for an answer.

  He answered after the fourth ring. “Tom Breen.”

  “Tom,” she said. “It’s Brenda. I need your help. Could you come over, please?”

  Twenty Two

  Samantha was lying on the mattress half-asleep, when she heard the sudden, rattling noise of chains being loosened above. The swinging of the trapdoor made her fully awake, but she did not move a single muscle while the ladder’s squeaking rungs indicated that he was climbing down rapidly towards her. She clutched the pillow and kept her eyes closed as the clomping sound of his steel-toed work boots got ever closer. The next thing she knew, her father grabbed Samantha painfully by her hair, pulling her upright with such force that she thought her neck had snapped. She screamed as she got up on her knees, her hands flailing wildly in the twilit void as the images in the TV monitor droned on silently.

  Jeff’s voice carried a hissing, vicious tone. “You stupid little bitch! I gave you that cat to keep you company, and now you let it get away? I’m going to kill you for that!”

  Samantha grabbed his wrists to stop him from further pulling her hair, but he slapped her hands away. �
��I didn’t do anything! Please Daddy, it hurts!”

  Jeff let go of her hair before pivoting and delivering a savage kick to her stomach. Samantha grunted as she tumbled sideways along the floor. He pointed at the rusted iron grill lying on the ground underneath the open ventilation shaft. “You broke through it, didn’t you? You got that damned animal up there and it escaped!”

  Her reply came in short wheezes. His blow knocked the wind out of her. “It … fell off … by itself.”

  He loomed over her. “You’re lying. You unscrewed the grill so you could get that stupid cat up there.”

  She shook her head slowly, the pain still numbing most of her reasoning. “No … no.”

  Jeff knelt down beside her. He grabbed the back of her neck and twisted it so she could see the fire in his eyes despite the twilight all around them. “You are pathetic. You’re nobody. It would have been better off if you had died instead of Zoe. She was better than you in every way.”

  A spark of defiance manifested itself in her mind and grew rapidly. Suddenly all that pain she was experiencing wasn’t so bad after all. For the first time ever, Samantha found a way to hurt him. Her daddy’s control wasn’t absolute. She proved it. “You’re a sick pervert, Daddy. And I hate you. Go ahead. Kill me too.”

  Jeff grimaced. He wanted to strangle her right then and there. But his sense of control quickly superseded his rage. This was his domain, and he would prove it to her. She would suffer before she died. He let go of Samantha’s neck and stood fully upright, to further distance himself from such a pathetic creature. “I don’t need to kill you. You’re going to do that to yourself.”

  He turned around and walked over to the TV monitor. Taking out a pocket flashlight from his jeans, he turned it on and used the multi-tool on his belt to disable the power cord. Within seconds, the TV ceased to function, and the only illumination was now his flashlight and the shaft of brightness coming from the trapdoor above.

  Jeff walked over to the ladder, shining his flashlight at her for one last time. “I’m not coming down here anymore. No more food. You will die alone in here. In the dark. And once you’re gone, I’m going to find another girl, and another.”

  Samantha didn’t say anything. She didn’t care anymore. Closing her eyes, she heard his movements as he walked up the ladder, and then the sound of the trap door being sealed before the rattle of the chains indicated that she was locked up for good. After that, she was back in the darkness, surrounded by her friends as she began to say goodbye to them all.

  “Goodbye Chris the surfer,” she said. “Goodbye Officer Speedbump. Goodbye Mr. Unknown hotdog chef. Goodbye Mr. French waiter.”

  A single tear fell down her eye. “Goodbye Quincy the cat. I hope you live a good life out in the wilds or the city or wherever you are.”

  After a short while she sat up and smiled. “I’ll be seeing you soon, Zoe. Just wait a little while longer, okay?”

  “Okay, Sam,” she said, imitating her friend’s voice. “I can’t wait to see you again.”

  Twenty Three

  It took them two hours to get over to the Shenandoah Valley, and the waning sun had by now given way to a moonlit night. Brenda sat in the front seat of Tom Breen’s Toyota sedan while staring out at the lights in the distant houses by the side of the road. She didn’t say much to Tom, other than telling him that she needed someone to accompany her while seeing her ex-husband. When Tom drove his car into her driveway, she was already waiting for him by the porch, the restless cat purring in her arms.

  She had contemplated for a long time whether to tell Tom what she had found, but she wanted to hear what Jeff had to say first. The articles she read in the news and on the internet had claimed that Zoe Owen must have been imprisoned in the hidden room of that burned house for years, and might have even been moved from another place. Brenda’s heart was torn; she just couldn’t believe Jeff would have something to do with that. And surely not their daughter.

  Tom took the winding road up towards the lodge. They passed a road sign that said PRIVATE PROPERTY before maneuvering past the open gate. As he made the turn he glanced over at Brenda. She had been quiet during the whole trip, only making an occasional soothing noise to calm the twitching cat sitting on her lap. When she asked him to accompany her he didn’t hesitate, thinking that it might be some sort of personal issue with her ex-husband, but now he was starting to suspect something was amiss. Brenda was usually very warm and friendly every time they met over the last few years, but in this instance she seemed tense, even apprehensive. Tom had barely suppressed the urge to ask her what was going on. In the end he figured that she would tell him everything when the time came, so he kept his mouth shut for now. He had to give his own wife an excuse when Alice asked him why he was going to meet up with Brenda at such a late hour, but in the end she just told him to wear a jacket because it would be a cold night. Tom couldn’t help but think about the dinner he was missing just about now. Alice was such a good cook, and she was preparing pot roast this evening.

  When they drove up to the front of the lodge, they could see lights coming from the windows of the place, but there were no other vehicles in the vicinity. The endless expanse of forest around them gave it a secluded atmosphere, as if they were the only people left in the world. The faint chirping of night crickets seemed to be the only sign of life other than themselves.

  Tom parked his car a few feet from the porch. “Is he supposed to be here?”

  Brenda held onto the cat with one arm as she opened the front passenger door. “Maybe he just had to drive back down to get supplies or something.”

  Tom quickly got out of the driver’s side and walked alongside Brenda as they made their way to the front door. “Have you got a key?”

  Brenda knocked lightly on the wooden door. The cat she held in her arms became even more fidgety and she had to hold onto it tightly to prevent the animal from leaping away. “Easy there, Tigger.”

  Tom tried to peer through the front windows. The curtains were half drawn but there didn’t seem to be anyone inside. He knocked more loudly on the door. “Mr. DeVoe, you in there?”

  There was no answer. Remembering where she had placed an extra key, Brenda walked over to an old flowerpot that she had placed on a shelf beside the door. Lifting the urn slightly, she noticed something shiny on the bottom. It was the key to the door. She had placed it there years before in case there ever was a need to access the house. Brenda took the key and inserted it into the lock. The door opened without incident and she entered the house. Tom followed her inside.

  After closing the door behind him, Tom cupped his hands over his mouth so he didn’t have to holler too loudly. “Hello, anybody home?”

  The cat leapt out of Brenda’s arms and started dashing around the room. She tried to catch it but the animal was too swift for her as it disappeared in between the furniture. “Tigger, come back here! Tigger!”

  Tom sighed as he looked at his watch. It was half past nine in the evening already, and his stomach was growling. He hadn’t eaten since lunch. “Brenda, I’m sorry, but Alice is expecting me back home soon.”

  Brenda turned to look at him. “I’m sorry for bringing you up here, Tom. It’s just that … I think my ex-husband might be hiding something from me.”

  Tom eyebrows furrowed together. “What do you mean?”

  Brenda looked away. “I … I’m not sure. I just think he’s keeping something from me.”

  “In regards to what?”

  Brenda hesitated for bit, and then she realized it might be better to just tell him what she knew. She didn’t want to implicate Jeff on a mere suspicion, so she chose her words carefully. “I think he knows more about what happened to that girl they found in the basement.”

  Tom was stunned. “Why didn’t you call the sheriff’s office?”

  “I tried calling Detective Draper, but her phone was switched off.”

  Tom took out his cell phone. It was an older model, and he didn’t see the need
to upgrade it, figuring that as long as he could talk or text, he wouldn’t need any of those other fancy features that came standard with the newer models. He tried to dial Addison’s number, but it didn’t go through. He tried the sheriff’s department, and the line failed to connect. He took a look at the gadget’s front display and frowned. “I’m not getting any bars for the phone signal. I think we might be in a dead zone. Is there a landline around here somewhere?”

  Brenda walked over to a table beside the sofa, but there was no telephone on it. She remembered quite distinctly that the lodge had a landline phone, but it seemed that Jeff must have removed it. “There was a phone here before, now it’s gone.”

  Tom shook his cell phone back and forth. A single digital bar indicating weak coverage would periodically pop up before suddenly disappearing again. He decided to send a text to Alice, asking her if she could call the police for him. Although the cell phone seemed to have accepted the text message, he didn’t get a notice indicating that it was sent. He shook his head slowly while trying to send another. “Goddamn it.”

  Hearing the cat’s meow, Brenda turned towards the kitchen area. “Tigger, are you over there? Tigger!”

  The cat continued its mewling as Brenda walked around the kitchen area while looking for it. She noticed that the door to the pantry was open and Tigger was just sitting there, trying to scratch at the flooring. Brenda moved closer and switched on the light that illuminated the closet. There were shelves with assorted canned goods and freeze-dried foodstuff lining the walls of the small storeroom.

  “Tigger, don’t do that,” Brenda said. She reached out to try and pick up the animal, but the cat took a few steps back and meowed again, this time it sounded more like a cry for help.

  She looked down at the linoleum-lined flooring of the pantry. It didn’t seem any different than from the rest of the kitchen. Brenda wondered if there was more to it. “Tom, could you come over here, please?”