You Can't Hide by Theresa Sneed (uplifting novels TXT) 📕

Sally poked at the dirt with the stick, making the hole bigger. “Oh, look,” she said to her fairy laying on the crumpled clothing. “I can see the tops of the trees and the sky, but it’s too dark out there. I wish I could see more.” She sat on the steps and stared at the hole. “I miss my bedroom.” She wiped at tears forming in her eyes. “At home, when Mommy turns the light off, I can see everything outside.”

She looked at the light hanging over her homemade table. Stepping on the wood, and then the overturned bucket, she stood. Wobbling, she threw her hand up to the string hanging from the light fixture, and pulled. The light went out.

Her eyes popped open. She had not realized how dark it would become and swiftly reached for the string. Her hand brushed against it, but her forward motion tipped the bucket over, and she fell through the darkness, her head hitting the side of the wood with a thud.

Todd parked the car in front of the small cabin. Elle was not encouraged with what she saw. Light from the moon cast shadows across the house. It was easy to see that the place had been neglected for years. Some of the windows were broken out and the front door was hanging open on its hinges. All of the hope she had disappeared. “She’s not here.”

Todd opened the car door. “Come on.”

“No,” Elle said. “This is a dead end.”

Karen leaned into the vehicle. “Let’s make sure before we write it off.” When Elle didn’t respond, Karen took the rifle and a flashlight, and walked up to the cabin with Todd. She looked back and then followed Todd through the open door.

Elle’s head fell against the back of the front seat. She did not fight the tears, but let them come.

Glancing back at the cabin, she caught a glimpse of a small light on the side of the house, but in an instant, it disappeared. Her heart leapt to her throat. Was there somebody circling the cabin with a flashlight? In a panic, she opened the car door, grabbed the shovel beside her, and then rushed inside the cabin.

“I saw a light,” she whispered.

Karen stood still, staring at the floor. “We did too, and it was coming from down there.” She pointed to a crack in the floorboards under an old woodstove.

Todd took the flashlight and swept its light under the stove. “That’s a trap door.” He gave the flashlight back to her then pushed against the stove. It moved a few inches.

Elle dropped the shovel. With Karen’s help, they fell against the stove. Together, the three of them moved the stove off the small door.

“How do we pull it up?” Karen flashed the light over the contours of the square door. There wasn’t a handle anywhere.

“Wait, what’s that?” Running her hand over the rough wood, Elle found a notch, just big enough for two or three fingers. Elle pulled, and the door came up a half an inch, slipped from her grasp, and then fell back again. Maybe we could stick the shovel under it.

“Here, let me,” Todd said, coming up behind her. Elle went to the side and nearly tripped over the shovel in the dark. Todd gave the door a hard yank, and Elle kicked the shovel under it. But she kicked too hard, and the shovel plummeted through the opening, and clattered down the ladder.

“Why’d you do that?” Todd asked, pulling the trap door open. Lowering it to the floor behind him, it dropped with a load thud.

Elle shrugged, disheartened that not a sound came from below. “It’s too quiet down there,” she said, in a shaky voice. “Someone turned that light off, but what about the light I saw outside?”

“A window, maybe?”

“No, the light was too narrow—like a flashlight, but it didn’t move around.” She looked up at her friend, hardly able to see her face in the dark. “Someone must be down there.” Her heart pounded hard in her chest. She had been kept in a cellar by Merrick for months before he let her live above ground. By that time, she was so indoctrinated to the craziness that was her life, that being in Merrick’s house was as if she never had another life. She couldn’t remember her real life anyway—the amnesia had taken its toll on her memory.

Elle grabbed the flashlight and pointed it through the opening. It flickered and then dimmed. She groaned. “Don’t fail me now.” She shook it, and it came back to full strength, but then waned again.

“I have another flashlight in my suitcase.” Todd pointed at Elle. “Don’t go down there without me.” He hurried out the door into the dark night.

Elle shone the light down through the opening.

Karen got down on her knees. “What do you see?”

Elle squinted. “A ladder and the shovel.” She shined the dim light as far as it would go, then stuck her head down into the opening. “Hello? Hello? Is anyone down there?” Nothing. She pulled her head out and shone the light on Karen.

Karen wrung her hands. “Where’s Todd? He should have been back by now.”

Elle thought quickly. “He had to go to the car in the dark, so he’s probably going slowly.”

Karen nodded. “That makes sense.”

Elle stuck her head back down into the hole. “Look, I know someone is down there, and we have a gun.” She hoped her quivering voice still made it sound like she meant business. She gestured to Karen to grab the rifle. The light from the flashlight diminished even more, and she turned it off, tucked it in her pants, and then swung her feet onto the top rung.

“Elle,” Karen whispered urgently. “Todd said to wait.”

She looked up, but couldn’t see Karen, and then reached down with her foot. With no light, the black room pressed in around her.

She clung to the ladder, and fought against the fear building