Chapter 1 - The Scream Behind the Basement Door
Jordan knew he had made a mistake the moment Cedric saw the cabinet open.
The cabinet stood halfway down the west hallway of Ellison House, an old walnut piece with tarnished brass hinges and two doors that had remained locked for as long as Jordan could remember.
Cedric had one rule about it.
Never touch it.
Not when Jordan was six.
Not when he was seven.
And especially not after dark.
But that evening Jordan had heard something rattling inside.
He had been looking for batteries for his flashlight when he noticed one cabinet door sitting slightly open.
Inside were old envelopes, photographs, a leather ledger and a small brass key tied to a faded red ribbon.
Jordan had picked up the key.
Then Cedric appeared.
“What are you doing?”
Jordan spun around.
“Dad, I—”
Cedric crossed the hallway so quickly Jordan barely had time to move.
His face was frighteningly calm.
That was always worse than shouting.
“Give me the key.”
Jordan clutched it instinctively.
“I was just looking.”
“I said give it to me.”
Jordan stepped backward.
Cedric grabbed him.
Jordan cried out as his father seized him by the hair and dragged him away from the cabinet.
“Dad! Please!”
His shoes slipped across the polished floor.
He reached upward desperately, trying to loosen Cedric’s hand.
“I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!”
Cedric did not look back.
The warm wall lamps passed one after another as he pulled Jordan toward the far end of the hallway.
Jordan knew where they were going.
His fear changed immediately.
“Dad?”
Cedric kept walking.
“No.”
Jordan twisted.
“Dad, please.”
Ahead stood the basement door.
Heavy oak.
Black iron handle.
A door Jordan had been taught to fear since childhood.
Nobody goes down there after dark.
Cedric had said it so often Jordan had never asked why.
Now his father reached the door.
Jordan’s feet stopped moving.
Cedric pulled.
Jordan nearly fell.
“Dad, please! Don’t put me down there!”
Cedric opened the door.
Cold air moved upward.
Beyond the threshold, a narrow staircase disappeared into darkness.
Jordan could see only the first four wooden steps.
After that, blackness.
His breathing became fast.
He pulled backward with both hands.
Cedric stared at him without sympathy.
“You wanted to touch things that don’t belong to you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You wanted to know what was forbidden.”
Jordan sobbed.
“I don’t anymore.”
Cedric pushed him through the doorway.
Jordan stumbled onto the first steps.
His shoulder struck the wall, but he caught the railing.
He turned immediately.
“Dad!”
Cedric’s face remained hard.
“Please!”
The door slammed.
Darkness swallowed Jordan.
The latch clicked.
For one second he could not breathe.
Then panic exploded.
He climbed back up and pounded both fists against the door.
“Dad! Let me out!”
No answer.
“Dad!”
THUMP.
THUMP.
“Please!”
On the other side, Cedric stood inches away.
Jordan could not see him.
But Cedric could hear everything.
And he did nothing.
Jordan cried harder.
Then something moved below him.
Not close.
Farther down.
A faint scrape.
Jordan stopped pounding.
The basement smelled like dust, stone and something metallic.
He slowly turned.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
Jordan gripped the railing.
Another sound.
A footstep.
His stomach tightened.
Someone was standing lower on the staircase.
He could not see a face.
Only a human shape separating itself from the darkness.
Jordan backed upward until his shoulders struck the door.
“Dad…”
Cedric heard his son’s voice change.
Not crying now.
Terror.
“Dad… there’s someone standing on the stairs!”
The figure moved.
Jordan screamed.
The sound tore through the basement—
then stopped.
Completely.
Outside, Cedric’s expression collapsed.
His eyes widened.
Color drained from his face.
He stepped away from the door.
“No.”
Silence.
Cedric stared at the handle.
“Jordan?”
Nothing.
He moved closer.
Then stopped himself.
Because Cedric knew something Jordan did not.
There were only three people who had ever known how to enter the basement without using that hallway door.
One was Cedric.
One had been dead for six years.
And the third had sworn never to return to Ellison House.
Cedric whispered a name.
“Adrian.”
Inside the basement, Jordan’s scream had stopped because a hand had closed over his mouth.
Jordan kicked wildly.
A voice whispered beside his ear.
“Jordan. Jordan, stop.”
He froze.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
Jordan trembled.
The stranger slowly removed his hand.
A flashlight clicked on.
Jordan saw a Black man in his late thirties kneeling in front of him.
Familiar eyes.
Familiar face.
A face Jordan had seen in old photographs before Cedric removed them.
The man whispered:
“My name is Adrian.”
Jordan’s heart pounded.
Adrian looked toward the basement door.
“And if your father realizes I’m here, both of us are in trouble.”
Jordan stared.
Cedric had told him Adrian Ellison was a thief.
A traitor.
A man who stole from the family and disappeared.
But Adrian’s next words changed everything.
“I’m your uncle.”
May you like
He held out his hand.
“And I came back because your father is trying to steal something that belongs to you.”
