Chapter 2: The Wife Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Daniel couldn't move.
The hammer slipped from his fingers and struck the floor beside the broken plank.
“Emily?”” he whispered.
Behind him, Vanessa began shaking her head.
“No. No, that's impossible.””
Daniel dropped to his knees again and pressed his face near the opening.
“Emily, can you hear me?””
A weak cough answered him.
Then came three desperate knocks.
“Daniel… please…”
He grabbed his phone and switched on the flashlight again, trying to see deeper into the crawl space.
“I'm coming down there. Just hold on.””
Vanessa seized his shoulder.
“Don't!””
He spun around.
“Get your hands off me!””
“You can't go down there!”” she shouted.
“The beams are unstable. You'll collapse the whole floor!””
“Then call 911!””
Vanessa's mouth opened, but no words came out.
Daniel stared at her.
“Now!””
She fumbled for her phone.
Mia remained pressed against the wall, staring at the hole as though she had expected this moment all along.
Daniel hurried to the kitchen and yanked open a drawer, searching for the heavy-duty flashlight he kept with his tools.
His hands shook so badly that he dropped it twice.
When he returned, Vanessa was standing beside the opening with her phone pressed to her ear.
“Yes, I need an ambulance,” she said, her voice suddenly calm.
“There's been an accident at our home.””
Daniel stopped.
An accident?
He snatched the phone from her hand.
“My wife is trapped beneath the house. She's alive. We need firefighters and police immediately.””
The dispatcher asked for the address.
Daniel gave it.
When she asked for the victim's name, he looked into the darkness.
“Emily Mercer.””
Vanessa closed her eyes.
The dispatcher repeated the name.
“Sir, did you say Emily Mercer?””
“Yes!””
“Is that your current wife's name?””
Daniel stared at the phone.
“What kind of question is that?””
“Sir, our records indicate that Emily Mercer was reported deceased three years ago.””
Daniel felt the room tilt.
Beside him, Vanessa whispered, “I told you.””
He lowered the phone.
“What did you say?””
“I told you,” she repeated, her voice cracking.
“She's dead, Daniel. Whatever you're hearing, it isn't Emily.””
A faint cry rose from beneath the floor.
“Don't listen to her…”
Daniel looked down.
The voice was weak but unmistakably human.
Vanessa lunged for the broken plank.
“Stop talking!”” she screamed into the opening.
Daniel caught her wrist.
“What is wrong with you?””
She twisted free and stumbled backward, knocking over a lamp.
“I've been protecting this family!””
“From what? Your own wife?””
“She's not your wife anymore!””
The words echoed through the living room.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Mia stepped forward.
“Daddy, I know where the door is.””
Daniel turned toward her.
“What door, sweetheart?””
“The little door in the laundry room. Mommy told me never to open it.””
Vanessa's face went white.
Daniel slowly looked at his daughter.
“When did Mommy tell you that?””
“Last night.””
He crouched in front of her.
“Baby, Mommy died three years ago. You know that.””
Mia shook her head.
“No, Daddy. You told me that.””
She pointed toward the floor.
“But I heard her singing last night. The song she used to sing when I couldn't sleep.””
Daniel remembered that song.
Emily had made it up when Mia was a baby. A silly little tune about a moon that lost its way home.
No recording existed. Emily had never written down the lyrics.
Only Daniel and Mia had heard it.
And yet, last night, Mia had told him she dreamed about the song.
He had dismissed it as a memory.
Now he couldn't breathe.
The dispatcher was still speaking through the phone.
“Sir, emergency responders are on their way. Please do not attempt to enter an unstable crawl space.””
Daniel answered automatically, then hung up.
He turned to Vanessa.
“Take Mia outside.””
“No.””
“I'm not asking you.””
Vanessa grabbed Mia's arm.
The little girl screamed.
“Don't touch me!””
Daniel stepped between them.
“Let her go!””
Vanessa released the child, then slapped Daniel across the face.
The sound cracked through the room.
Mia gasped.
Daniel slowly turned his head back toward his wife.
Vanessa's chest rose and fell rapidly.
“You have no idea what she's capable of,” she whispered.
Daniel touched his cheek.
“What has she done?””
Vanessa looked at the opening.
For the first time, tears gathered in her eyes.
“She came back.””
Daniel stared at her.
“What?””
“Three years ago, I thought she was gone. I thought it was finally over.”” Vanessa backed away, her hands trembling.
“But she never left.””
Daniel's stomach twisted.
He remembered the night Emily supposedly died.
A late-night phone call. A wreck on a rural road outside Austin. A police officer standing on his porch while rain soaked through his shirt.
He had never seen Emily's body.
He had identified her through photographs and personal belongings because the hospital told him the remains were too badly damaged for an open-casket funeral.
At the time, grief had swallowed every question.
Now those questions were returning with terrible force.
“Where was Emily buried?”” he demanded.
Vanessa stared at him.
“You signed the paperwork.””
“I asked you where she was buried!””
“In the family plot.””
Daniel shook his head.
“No. I want to know why I never saw her body.””
Vanessa's lips parted.
Before she could answer, the floor knocked again.
Harder this time.
A piece of wood lifted from below.
Then a voice rose through the gap.
“Daniel, listen to me.””
He dropped to his knees.
“Emily?””
“Don't let her take Mia.””
Vanessa screamed.
She grabbed a decorative vase from the side table and hurled it at the hole.
It shattered against the boards.
Daniel lunged toward her, but she was already running for the staircase.
“Vanessa!””
She reached the top step and looked back.
Her eyes were wild.
“You should have left the floor alone!””
Then she disappeared into the upstairs hallway.
Daniel heard a door slam.
Mia clutched his arm.
“Daddy, we have to find the little door.””
“Where is it?””
“In the laundry room.””
He grabbed the flashlight, took Mia's hand, and hurried down the hall.
The laundry room was small, with white cabinets, a washing machine, and a dryer that rattled whenever it ran.
Daniel searched the walls.
“Show me.””
Mia pointed behind the dryer.
He pulled the appliance forward, revealing a narrow wooden panel near the baseboard.
It had no handle.
Only a small brass keyhole.
Daniel crouched and ran his fingers along the edge.
A terrible smell drifted through the opening.
Damp earth. Rust. Something sour.
He pressed his ear against the panel.
Nothing.
Then he heard a faint metallic scrape from the other side.
He tried pulling it open.
It wouldn't move.
Mia reached into the pocket of her pajamas.
“Mommy gave me this.””
She placed a small brass key in his palm.
Daniel stared at it.
“Where did you get this?””
“Under my pillow.””
He slid the key into the lock.
It turned.
The panel opened inward with a long, painful creak.
Behind it was a narrow staircase descending into complete darkness.
At the bottom, someone was crying.
Daniel pointed the flashlight down the steps.
On the wall, written in red letters, were six words.
*SHE IS NOT THE WOMAN YOU MARRIED.*
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And beneath those words, in handwriting Daniel recognized from hundreds of birthday cards and grocery lists, was a message signed by Emily.
Daniel, if you're reading this, don't trust the woman upstairs.
