“Clara!” she screamed, beating on the wall. “Clara! Get us out of here. Hurry!” She pounded on the wall with both fists, her phone on the floor at her feet. Maybelle crowded close beside her, adding her howls to the racket.
At last, spent and breathless, Agnes sank down beside her dog and cat. Clara’s voice came from the other side. “Agnes! Calm down. I don’t know how you got in there, wherever that is, but there must be a switch or something you bumped. I’m pushing all over this area, trying to get something to open.”
Agnes shuddered and closed her eyes. It would be bad enough to be locked inside a dark, enclosed area without the addition of what she had discovered. The air was bad in here and she was hot. She couldn’t take a deep breath and her heart was going like crazy. But, Clara was right. She had to calm down. At least, she had to try. Maybe there was a latch or something that would open up the wall or a door.
Picking up her phone, whose light was growing dim, she shone it all over her prison. She pushed every square inch of it with no luck at all. She could hear Clara on the other side, grunting with the effort of pushing hard.
Just when Agnes was sure she had taken her last breath, the wall slid open and she was free. Staggering out into the coolness of the basement, she gulped great mouthfuls of fresh air. Maybelle and Candy pushed past her to press against Clara’s legs.
“What in the world happened?” Clara asked. “How did you wind up in there and what is it, anyway, some sort of closet?”
Agnes shook her head. “It’s a…it’s a hiding place. Oh, Clara, there’s a skeleton in there. A skeleton! A dead human being.”
Clara’s eyes widened. “Are you sure? Maybe you imagined it. Maybe it’s just some old rags, like in a broom closet.”
Agnes shook her head. “No! No! It’s bones. Here.” She thrust her phone into Clara’s hands.
Clara shone the light into Agnes’ prison. She gasped and backed out. Her hand, when she gave Agnes’ phone back to her, was shaking.
“You’re right,” she croaked. “It’s a skeleton. Let’s get out of here.”
The two friends climbed up the basement stairs much faster than they had gone down. Maybelle and Candy were in the kitchen, both of them lapping eagerly at their water bowls.
Agnes sank into a kitchen chair while Clara went to the stove. “You need a cup of tea,” she said. “And, so do I.”
Dumbly, Agnes nodded. “What or who do you think it was? Why on earth would a skeleton be down there? We should call the sheriff, or someone.”
Clara set two cups of hot tea on the table. “That’s a good idea, except for one thing. Remember, our phones won’t work.”
Agnes shook her head. “I’m not staying in this house any longer.”
“Then, what are we going to do?” Clara asked.
Agnes finished her tea. “We’ll just have to drive to town and somehow get hold of a sheriff or some kind of law officer.”
“But, we can’t drive ten miles down this mountain in this storm at this hour,” Clara said, as lighting shivered across the floor.
Agnes pushed her chair back. “We’ve got to try. We’ll take the animals. I won’t leave Maybelle here when she’s so frightened. Let’s get our coats.”
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