Though Isaac hated cleaning, he had to do it at some point. All the clustered closets and drawers were becoming too much to handle. He can’t even put a single pot in a cabinet without 5 others falling out. “Oh where to start,” he groaned, hoisting himself off the couch. He could do his room but he hasn’t seen his floor in ages and doesn’t exactly wanna deal with that yet. He could do the bathroom but he might just save that for later since he doesn’t wanna have to grab the chemicals. He could do the attic but he’s afraid of the dark and isn’t going to risk it. The only thing to do now is the basement. He liked that spot, though it is dimly lit, he always hung out with his dad there and made pillow forts. It wasn’t such a bad place once you stayed there for a bit.

The steps creaked as Isaac carefully went down the stairs, watching out for the nails that stick out on the steps. They definitely needed to do some renovations. He pulled on the string of the light, accidentally grabbing a spiderweb with it. Boxes and boxes of things scattered everywhere and there was even a few dressers.

Isaac walked over to the plain white dresser, and he noticed a little bit of blood on it. “Where’d that come from,” he pondered, knowing his mother was very strict about being careful around furniture and would never let something like that ruin the dresser. Well, it is also in the basement so maybe he’s wrong. He pulls open the first drawer which has absolutely nothing in it. “Not surprised,” he muttered to himself. Why would there be anything in the drawer anyways? He pulled out the second drawer and realized he was wrong. This drawer was an absolute junk drawer!

Stuff got pushed left and right as Isaac saw something familiar at the bottom of the drawer. He grabbed the item and realized it was his old phone! Why did this get saved, though? It’s just a piece of junk anyways. Though, there might be some pictures on here that are worth seeing. Another question he has is “why is the phone not dead?” He hasn’t seen this thing in years but the phone seems to be charged. Did his mom use it?

“I swear to god if I get this password wrong one more time!“ Isaac yelled, frustrated that he couldn’t remember his passcode. He was now sitting on the basement floor, covered with dust, and angrily tapping on a locked phone. 3745,3547,7453,7423. He’s tried every passcode he could before getting locked out for a minute. One last chance. 4357. “It unlocked,” he cheered, looking at the Home Screen of the old phone.

A picture of him and his best friend made him smile, remember exactly when they took that picture. Next he went to his camera roll. At first it was his normal pictures, but then he got to the most recent photos. First it was just pitch black photos, then some photos of a man in a chair. Was he tied up?! Isaac looked closer and realized it was his dad. “But he went missing a month ago,” Isaac whispered, seeing that the date on the phone was from a week ago.

There was hundreds of photos, the same chair and same person in it who he knew his whole life. Videos of the guy struggling, and asking someone to pay the ransom money. Ransom money? Was this a scam? Is this all just a big joke that they’re playing on Isaac? Then the very last photo which stopped his heart. His dad limped over, eyes white, and he’s as pale as a ghost. Who did this? Who would do something so terrible? But then, in the corner of the photo, he saw something.

It may be hard to tell from a normal persons perspective but what Isaac could barely see in the dark was a hand, nails painted a bright red. The same as his moms nails. That’s when he pieced it all together. How this person pulled this whole thing off. It was the person he trusted most, the person he loved like none other, the person who raised him. It was his own mom.

“Isaac, what are you doing down there?”