He Found His Parents Chained in the Basement on Christmas Eve

CHAPTER 1 - THE BASEMENT DOOR

"Dad? Mom?"

The words came out of Sean before his mind caught up with what he was seeing.

A heavy chain looped through the bars.

And behind it, his parents, squeezed together on two folded blankets as if they were old coats put away for winter.

His mother's hands shook as she gripped the bars. His father sat stiffly beside her, one arm around her shoulders.

He dropped to his knees in front of the lock and grabbed it.

His mother lunged forward.

"Don't open it."

Sean froze.

For one terrible second, he thought she had lost her mind.

"Why?" he asked.

Her eyes moved past him, up the stairs.

Then a woman's voice cut through the basement.

"Sean. Come upstairs."

He turned.

Vanessa stood at the top of the steps in her dark wine-colored dress, one hand pressed tightly over a folder held against her chest. They had been dating eleven months. She had spent the last three helping him "take care" of things after his father's stroke and his mother's fall. She had insisted his parents needed quiet. She had told him they wanted to spend Christmas at his cousin Daniel's lake house.

Now they were locked in his basement.

Sean stayed where he was.

His hand tightened around the bars until his knuckles whitened.

"You said they were away for Christmas."

Vanessa did not answer. She only held the folder closer.

Then his father leaned forward through the bars and caught Sean's sleeve with trembling fingers.

His voice was barely more than breath.

"Son... don't sign anything she gives you."

Sean looked from his father's face to the folder in Vanessa's arms.

She quickly shoved a loose corner of paper back inside.

And for the first time since he'd met her, Vanessa looked afraid.