"Morning, sweetheart. You took quite a nasty fall last night."

His voice. The sound of his voice always happened to make me tense up with fear. Every morning started just like the previous had. His unusually sweet voice would always make my stomach feel tight and queasy, but it was his touch that sent shivers throughout my body, preparing for the unexpected.

"Morning," I nearly choked out a whisper. His touch gave me chills as he rubbed my shoulder with love.

"I wish I could stay a while, but I'm off to work. Make sure you have the best dinner ready with a bottle of wine by sundown. I might be coming in from work a little late tonight. Okay?" I only nodded my head, afraid of what little voice I had in my throat. All of a sudden, I felt a thousand needles prick my scalp as he fisted a handful of my hair. "I didn't hear you say anything?"

"Y-Yes," I cried in pain, which caused him to release immediately.

"Good. Well, I'm off now. See you later," he said while rubbing my cheek with the back of his hand. All I did was flinch.

I buried my face into the pillow and waited until the deafening sound of the door locked. That was the only proof I had that he was gone. As soon as I heard him leave the house, I shot out of bed and went straight towards the bathroom. Not able to withstand the tension in my stomach, I barely made it to the toilet.

A minute or two later, I stated at my pale skin, sunken eyes, and bruises in the mirror. Going to brush the vomit from my tongue, I reached for my tooth brush to find a note, taped to the bottom corner of the mirror. Pulling it off, I slowly read the messy red lettering from my already shaking hands.

"You're a lie."

Glaring wearily at the note, I ripped it up, tossed it into the toilet, and watched as the pieces swirled away with the water. I didn't know if this was a prank, but today wasn't the day.

After I finished my morning routine, I went into the kitchen to make coffee, and whatever breakfast my stomach could handle. I opened the fridge, grabbed out some coffee creamer, and closed the door, just to find another note.

"Don't trust your husband."

Now, I started to get worried. Whom were these notes for? Whoever they were for, they sure didn't make me feel better.

Opening the kitchen drawer, I found another note in with the utensils. I shook my head and grabbed it. On my way to throw out the note, I caught sight of a red exclamation mark. That's when I started to panic. Unfolding the piece of paper, I glanced down at the message, my heart pounding in suspense.

"Don't go into the basement."

Crumbling up the paper, I shoved it into the over-filling trash can before going back to my coffee. I had enough with these letters, and I don't know where these were coming from.

Feeling the ground vibrate and shake, a loud clunking noise could be heard coming from the basement. Then in one second, the kitchen floor gave way and I plummeted ten feet.

My life was simple; I had a normal childhood with both parents happy and married even to this day as they steadily reach their 50’s; I hadn’t wanted much as a child.

I continued getting old and my life kept a steady normal pace, I found a job at eighteen years old and by the time I was twenty five I was a manager at the fancy restaurant in town but lately things have began to get strange and it’s starting to scare me..

I kept finding notes in my handwriting but my husband and I had been together since we both 18 (Married at twenty years old) so he could’ve easily copied my handwriting; their were three sentences written one on each sticky note and I’d get different ones each day ‘I will be free’, ‘Do not trust your husband’ and ‘Don’t go into the basement’.

The days slipped by quickly and my husband began to act weird; he was secretive, was out for most of the days he wasn’t working claiming he was but I’d called in once or twice to see if he wanted to get lunch and he wasn’t even there and soon the behaviour crept into our home, I’d find him at the top of the basement stairs and he was talking to- Whispering to someone in the basement and I could faintly hear someone answering back, my own husband was starting to scare me and I thought about staying at my sisters for a few nights just to get away from him.

My husband; David grew worse and worse as Halloween came, he spent most of his time in the basement now and had lost his job; he had began to encourage me to come into the basement and I had declined each time but now as I sit in the living room I can still hear his constant calling for me to come down there “Honey! Maria come down to the basement! I have a surprise for you!” He kept repeating his word over and over again and I gave in.

I tiredly walked over to the basement and carefully made my way down the stairs, only to scream as I reached the bottom and move back as my husband came at me with a knife “She wants to be free honey!” There was a deranged and crazy look in his eyes; his wide splitting grin making it worse “She just wants to rule this meek world..”

I struggled with my husband, managing just barely to get the knife away from him; coming away with a few light cuts before running up stairs where I could hear movement, I threw the door open to the basement and ran out into the living room and was greeted with all my friends and family dressed up before my husband shot me; The surprise shouted soon turned to scream of horror and pain, I could hear more shots and insane laughter before everything went black