“Where would you like me to take these boxes?” I asked my wife. We were moving into our new house, and my hands were full of her crafting tools. “Just take them down in the basement. I’ll go through them later.” I smiled and opened the door to the basement, fumbled for the chord to the stairway lights, and made my way down into the unfinished basement.

The walls were made of different colored stones, and the floor was cold concrete. I went to the far corner and searched for the one lone light in the basement and pulled the chord. The light came on and the bulb swung throwing shadows across the walls. I must admit I was a little creeped out and that’s when I saw something glitter in the other corner.

I went to see what treasure I might have found and realized it was a book that had the word diary across the front made with little beads. _My daughter would love something like this _I thought, she likes shiny things. I dusted off the front and saw that there was a year at the bottom, 1929.

I opened up the diary, and felt a little guilty looking at someone else’s thoughts, but I’m sure they were long gone, and it might be pretty interesting. On th the first page the name Mary James was handwritten with the subtitle of ‘How it Happened.’ This was going to be interesting because I had to know what happened, so I turned the page and read the first entry.

January 1st, 1929

_ _

It is the beginning of the new year, and it has begun. The violence is outrageous, and I can’t help but think that at 21 I should be able to get away, but I can’t. He is always around, and I have no way of knowing when he will show up. I hid in the secret room I found when we moved in, but he found me any way. I had to…Oh no here he comes again.

_ _

Obviously, this girl had been in danger. I wonder what happened that she had to hide. Was she abused by her husband or father? I flipped the page to read some more. I already knew I needed to find out what happened to this woman.

January 31st, 1929

_ _

It has been a month, and I finally have time alone to write here again. I was locked away and finally let go. I was bound to the bed and kept in my bedroom. He hands fed me and made me feel as though things would get better. He is such a gentle person when he wants to be but I know the rage will come again. I don’t know how much longer I can put up with this, he goes into these mad rages. Oh no, I think he is coming. I better get supper started.

_ _

I’m sure my eyes were as wide as saucers. The story that was unfolding was something one might read in a horror story. “Hey, what are you doing down there?” I heard my wife yell down to me, “Nothing, I’ll be up in a second.” I closed the book and stuck in my back pocket to read later and headed back upstairs.

Later that night after supper I told my wife that I was going to put some things we moved into a room we decided would be when we had bought the house. I moved the desk into the corner and took some tools out and put my chair together and then sat the book down on my desk. I stared at it for about five minutes and decided I wanted to know more and opened it back up to the next page.

February 4th, 1929

_ _

_It has been very quiet lately, almost too quiet. He is sitting in his room now and I can hear him talking to himself or is he really talking to himself. I’m so glad I get times like these where I can be alone. This small room on the second floor seems to be my only sanctuary. I come up here to read the Bible and pray. My faith gives me hope that things will get better. My crucifix my mother gave me hangs on the door. She had told me to pray every night and everything will be alright…. oh no he is coming and banging on the door. _

_ _

I sat back in my chair and that is when I noticed it, the paint looked as though it was worn in the shape of crucifix, but that had been almost a century ago. How could that still be marked on the walls. I was becoming afraid now, of what I’m not sure, but I was felt afraid and turned the page.

This page was much different there were what appeared to be spattering of blood on the page. I read the words.

February 5th, 1929

_ _

I hurt all over and the bruises are starting to show more. He used the whip this time and tied my hands to the bed post. He isn’t afraid to hurt me and doesn’t care who knows. He has taken to locking me in the room and the house when he goes outside to play.

_ _

What the hell? Start to play…I needed to read on.

He likes to play hide and seek and says that if I’m locked in the house, it is easier for him to win. He likes winning. My son is evil. I’m not sure how it happened. He was so happy before we moved into this house. He was loving and would curl up with me in a chair so I could read to him.

_ _

He is a boy…I turned the page; it was covered in blood. The outside edges of the pages were read and covered it up, but I could read a little bit through the blood.

Oh my god he is coming back. He seems very agitated and just yelled “It is time to die mother.”

_ _

I dropped the book and then I heard my daughter yell “come downstairs daddy, let’s play hide and seek in our new home.”