Chapter 2 - The Padlock on the Shed
I returned to the living room with my heart racing wildly against my chest.
“She never left this house, so what did you two do to her?”
My mother yelled that I was a terrible son and claimed that Kristin had left her things behind just to manipulate me. I did not bother to answer her as I searched the kitchen, the bathroom, and the entire upstairs area. Then I remembered the old storage room in the backyard, which was a damp structure where we kept rusty tools and broken furniture.
When I opened the back door to head outside, Georgia ran right after me.
“Do not go near that shed!” she screamed.
There was a brand-new brass padlock hanging on the storage door. A small piece of blue fabric was sticking out from under the heavy wooden door, and I immediately recognized the maternity dress Kristin had worn on the morning of my trip.
I pounded my fists hard against the wood.
“Kristin! It is Elias! Can you hear me?”
For several agonizing seconds, I only heard the sound of the rain falling on the metal roof. Then came a faint scraping sound, like fingernails scratching weakly against the wood from the inside.
I turned around and demanded the key from my mother instantly. She stood right in front of the door and swore that the shed contained items from a spiritual cleansing that could not be touched for forty-nine days.
I did not waste any more time arguing with her. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed emergency services right away.
“My pregnant wife has been missing for three days, and I believe she is locked inside a storage room at my house with her life in grave danger.”
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My mother tried frantically to snatch the phone out of my hands. When she failed, she collapsed to her knees in the wet grass and screamed that opening the door would unleash a tragedy that would destroy our entire family.
Misfortune was already right there, barely breathing behind the wooden door, and I still could not imagine what we would find once we finally broke the heavy lock.
