Chapter 2 - Shattered Wood and Trembling Hands
Lucas unleashed his full athletic power into the first brutal swing.
BANG!
The steel head crashed into the center of the wooden wall with deafening force.
Splintered fragments of polished mahogany exploded across the floor, littering the pristine cream marble like sharp shrapnel.
The heavy decorative trim buckled inward, revealing the dense frame beneath the luxury veneer.
Lucas did not pause for even a second to catch his breath.
He whipped the hammer back with frantic momentum, his muscles bunching beneath his navy shirt.
CRASH!
The second thunderous blow tore through the structural framing, caving the panel completely inward.
A jagged hole opened in the side of the staircase, exposing a pitch-black interior compartment.
The stale smell of trapped dust, dampness, and cold confinement poured out into the warm foyer.
Lucas dropped his stance, chest heaving violently, ready to strike a third blow.
Before the hammer could descend again, a frail, paper-thin hand reached out through the splintered opening.
Silver-white hair was visible through the jagged wooden gap, catching the chandelier's downward glow.
The elderly woman's fingers clutched weakly at the broken trim, her knuckles white with terror and exhaustion.
"Lucas... help me... it's locked from the outside..." she wept, her voice trembling in the hollow darkness.
Lucas staggered backward half a step in sheer disbelief, his hazel eyes wide with horror at the sight.
Someone in this house had buried a seventy-six-year-old matriarch alive inside a utility void.
"Hold on, Grandma, do not move your hands!" Lucas shouted desperately, his voice cracking with emotion.
He shifted his grip on the hammer, positioning the tool to shear the hidden exterior deadbolt off its mountings.
Every second counted now, as the sound of running footsteps echoed from the upper mezzanine.
The entire mansion seemed to awaken to the violence of the hammer strikes.
Lucas raised the hammer again, determined to obliterate whatever mechanism kept his grandmother imprisoned.
He swung sideways, slamming the steel wedge into the reinforced latch assembly.
Sparks flew from the metal hardware as the screws groaned under the tremendous shockwave.
The grandmother shrank back into the shadows to avoid the flying splinters, clutching something fiercely against her chest.
Lucas wrenched the hammer free, the wood around the lock splitting apart like dry tinder.
His breath came in ragged, furious gasps as he prepared to rip the entire door off its hinges with his bare hands.
He could hear the faint sound of his own pulse pounding inside his temples like a war drum.
The terrifying reality that someone inside their sanctuary had done this turned his blood to ice.
May you like
He braced his foot against the bottom stair and leaned in toward the jagged breach.
"I’m getting you out right now, Grandma, nobody is ever going to hurt you again!" he roared into the dark cavity.
