Chapter 5 - Splintering Truths
The wooden beam groaned in protest as the fracture widened. Dust rained down from the rotting lintel, settling on Leo’s hair and shoulders like gray ash. Arthur lunged forward, his large hands closing around the boy’s waist and physically lifting him away from the door, spinning him around and setting him down hard in the grass several yards away.
“Are you out of your mind?!” Arthur roared, his chest heaving as he towered over his son. “You could have brought the whole frame down on yourself!”
“I don't care!” Leo screamed, struggling against the mud as he tried to claw his way back. “You’re just a coward! You put her in there because you were scared of what she knew!”
Clara rushed over, kneeling beside Leo and pinning his arms gently to his sides. “Stop it, Leo! Please, just listen to us. Your father did what he had to do to protect this family. You don’t understand the things your mother did before—she wasn't well in her mind. She would have destroyed everything we built!”
“She’s my mother!” Leo sobbed into Clara’s beige top, his resistance finally breaking into ragged, uncontrollable gasps. “She used to bake me bread on Sunday mornings. Now she’s locked in the dark with the spiders and the dust.”
Arthur turned his back on them, running a trembling hand over his bald head. He stared at the fractured wooden beam. The force of Leo’s blow had cracked the lintel enough to reveal a sliver of the interior space. A foul, stale odor drifted out through the new gap—the unmistakable smell of damp earth, old sweat, and dried blood.
He walked slowly back toward the shed, stepping over the discarded hammer. Kneeling down, he peered through the narrow crack in the splintered wood.
The interior was pitch black, save for a faint shaft of amber light cutting through a high, dirty air vent. In the center of the room, illuminated dimly by the stray beam, sat a heavy wooden chair. Thick hemp ropes bound a figure securely to the seat. The red-haired woman lifted her bruised face toward the crack, her eyes reflecting a wild, unbroken fury that sent a shiver straight down Arthur’s spine.
Her lips parted, and she whispered something through the splintered wood directly to him.
May you like
Arthur stumbled backward, falling heavily onto his hands in the dirt. He had recognized the exact words she uttered—a secret threat whispered years ago in an empty courtroom, a promise that she would return to ruin him even if she had to claw her way up from the very center of the earth.
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