Inktober 2022

Day 2: Secret

As Willow drove down the roads of Manhattan, she started to question herself. Was this worth it? She had recently learned her biological non-existent father had passed away and left his old home to Willow. She remembered growing up in the house with good memories, none of which were about her dad. Her dad hadn't been there for her pretty much at all during her childhood. She didn't even know him. All she got from him before he passed was a late birthday card every year that was signed "from, dad." She pulled up to the house which looked like it might need repairs done on it. The house was green with a dark grey roof although now the colors had faded.

She got out of her car and looked over when she heard the door from the house next to her dad's opening and closing followed by whistling. She saw a man going to his mailbox. He saw her and smiled as he waved. "Good evening." He said. "Good evening sir. Did you know the man that used to live here?" She asked, curious how long the new neighbor had been there. He looked old enough to be a father or at least married but not old enough to have gray hair. She guessed 30s or 40s. "Sort of. He was more of a recluse than anything." The man said. "I'm Tristan. And you are?" He asked. "Willow. The man that used to live here was my dad." Willow replied. "Really? I've lived here for two years now and I've never seen you around." Tristan said.

"We didn't have the best relationship. But he supposedly left me the house in his will while my sister got his car." Willow said. "Oh okay. Well I'm sorry for your loss. And I'll see you around if you move in." Tristan said. "You too." Willow said. She walked in past the broken gate of her father's house. She walked up to the door and opened it as she went inside. The old house smelled musty so she left the door open to hopefully air it out a bit. The wallpaper seemed to be peeling in several places and the carpets looked like they needed to be replaced. She even stepped on one part of the carpet in the living room that crunched under her shoes. This house will definitely need to be fixed up before anyone lives here. I don't know how he lived here.

She thought to herself as she walked around the house, looking around and taking note of what might need to be fixed and what would need to be thrown away. She remembered so many good memories she had with her younger sister. Sitting on the couches in the living room either watching TV or reading books, running around in the backyard playing together, sitting at the table to eat, playing with toys in their room. As she went to her and her sisters old room she remembered when her younger sister would cuddle with her all the time because she was so scared of sleeping in her bed alone. Apparently monsters would whisper to her in the night while sleeping in her bed which made her sister believe there were monsters under her bed alone.

She still teased her sister about her fear which oddly enough her sister still believed. She wouldn't say monsters now but she still believed something would whisper unintelligible sentences to her and she never understood where they came from or what she heard but she swore to this day it was something. Her sister never liked being in the house. Willow looked around their old room and saw that her dad left their beds in and their old toys but he moved some more bookshelves in the room. She sat on her bed and looked around before noticing one of the bookshelves seemed to be covering something. Curiously, she got up and walked over to move the bookshelf out of the way.

As the bookshelf and books gave way and fell to the ground with a loud thump, she noticed a pretty big hole in the wall. She didn't know how long the hole had been there but it was so dark. She then looked over to the light switch in the room and remembered the second light switch didn't seem to do anything when she was younger. She flicked the second light switch on and the dark hole lit up, revealing what was in the hole. Stairs leading down with lights on the walls. "Dad, what were you hiding?" She mumbled to herself.