Chapter 6 - THE TRUTH UNBURIED
Ethan fell to his knees on the wet wooden stairs, the crowbar slipping from his fingers and clattering into the water below.
"Rebecca..." he wept, reaching out a trembling hand toward the ghost—or the child—standing at the bottom of the flight. "I didn't know. I swear to God, I didn't know what they did to you!"
The girl took one slow step up the stairs. The water dripped from her soaked hem, making soft tapping sounds against the wood.
"Daddy told me to play hide and seek," Rebecca said, her voice echoing unnervingly through the dark house. "He gave me my rabbit. He said if I stayed in the dark room under the floor and stayed very quiet, Ethan would get better."
Claire felt a cold horror settle deep in her gut. She stepped down beside Ethan, her eyes fixed on the little girl.
"She wasn't swept away by the river," Claire realized, her voice trembling with absolute disgust and heartbreak. "Ethan... your father didn't throw her in the flood. He sealed her inside the house!"
Ethan lifted his head, his face contorted in agony. "What?"
"The house across the street!" Claire said, pieces of the terrifying puzzle connecting in her mind. "Your father built that reinforced space! He didn't lock her out—he locked her IN! He left her in the crawlspace under the old house when you guys fled!"
Rebecca nodded slowly, holding her lavender-eared rabbit tight against her chest.
"It got cold," Rebecca whispered. "The water came in. The door wouldn't open. I waited for you, Ethan. I waited for thirty years."
"Oh God... Oh God, forgive me!" Ethan sobbed out loud, beating his fist against his own chest. "It was for me! They sacrificed my little sister to save my life! I’m the monster! I shouldn't be alive!"
"Ethan, stop it!" Claire grabbed his shoulders, shaking him hard. "You were seven years old! You didn't do this! Your parents were sick, superstitious monsters who committed an unspeakable crime!"
"No," Rebecca’s voice rose slightly, clearer now. "Daddy wasn't a monster. He was trying to stop the curse."
Claire froze. "What curse?"
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Rebecca pointed her small, pale finger not at Ethan, and not at Claire, but directly at eight-year-old Lily.
"The water didn't come to take me," Rebecca said, her eyes fixated on Lily. "The water came to take her."
