The Hidden Door

The Hidden Door

The winter was long; the snow was falling at an alarming rate. Every inch of my backyard was covered from top to bottom. I would only open the door to let my dog Buddy in and out to use the bathroom. My husband, Manny, was going crazy; he hates the cold. His Latin roots love the warmer weather, and he is only up here because he loves me. He keeps telling me that once he finds a job in a warmer climate; we are moving. I always laugh at him because I know he means it.

The snow finally slowed down, and the sun was shining high in the sky. Buddy was sniffing around the front door because he had to use the bathroom. I pushed Buddy back so I could open the door, but he couldn’t hold it anymore and burst through the door. He ran outside and quickly sniffed around to find a spot to pee. Manny was inside with his feet on the couch watching television. I yelled back to him, “Babe, Buddy got out to go to the bathroom. I’m going to wait out there with him.”

Manny blew me a kiss from the couch and told me he would watch from the window. I walked outside, and Buddy was still sniffing around. He was having a hard time finding a place to go to the bathroom because all of his spots were covered in snow. He let out a cry and sniffed once again. I yelled at him to hurry, since it was cold outside. Buddy just looked at me, cried, and sniffed the yard once again. I rolled my eyes at him and leaned against the house and waited for Buddy. I lifted my head, and Buddy was finally peeing on a tree in the yard. He was running towards the house when I saw him stop in the middle of the yard. He buried his nose in the snow but popped back up and ran back into the house.

When Buddy ran back into the house, Manny grabbed him and dried him off with the towel from the bathroom, but when he was drying his face off, he noticed something sticking out of Buddy's teeth. Manny pulled the object out of Buddy’s mouth and saw it was a little drawstring bag. “Babe, what is this?” Manny said, holding the bag in his hand.

“I don’t know. Where did you get it?” I asked, bending over next to Buddy.

“Buddy’s mouth.” Manny answered.

Manny opened the bag, and a key tumbled out. The key looked as if it was from the 1800s. We sat on the floor and tried to figure out which doors it could unlock. We knew all the doors in the house either had no locks or locks that didn’t take keys like the one we found.

We walked around the house trying out different locks to see if there was any that matched the key. We even tried locks we knew wouldn’t work with that key. Manny searched the attic while I searched the basement for any hidden doors. Manny texted me that he couldn’t find anything in the attic. He rushed down to join me in the basement. Our basement was much larger and harder to search through because of the boxes from the move. Manny came downstairs and began searching on the other side of the basement. We were pulling tarps off furniture that was still covered. We opened closets that still had clothing from the previous tenant. I continued to search through the closets, and Manny was checking the floor for hidden doors.

We sat in the middle of the floor, our backs pressed against each other. “Babe, that key could have been outside for a long period of time. It could be from the neighbor's house. I don’t know, but let's go upstairs and get some dinner.” Manny said as he got off the floor.

“You’re right. I don’t know where the door for this key could be. Let’s go upstairs and order some food.” I said as I picked myself off the floor.

We walked back upstairs and went into the kitchen. I ordered some takeout and waited for the delivery guy to come with our food. Manny was lounging back on the couch when Buddy cried again to go to the bathroom. Manny got up to take him out. Buddy was getting impatient at the door. Manny opened the door, and Buddy ran outside. I walked into the living and watched Manny at the door waiting for Buddy. Buddy was sniffing around once again, looking for a place to pee. He whimpered again because the snow covered his favorite spots. Manny told him to hurry, and Buddy quickly peed and went to the bathroom. As he was walking back in, Manny saw a door next to our garage. “Babe, there is a door next to the garage. Did you ever notice that?” Manny asked, pointing to the door.

“What door?” I said, grabbing ‌his shoulder and peeking over it.

Manny pointed to the door on the side of the garage. I looked over at him, smiled and grabbed the key. The door was white and blended in with the siding of the house. The knob was tiny and unnoticeable if you really weren’t looking for it. We were grabbing our coats when the delivery guy showed up with our dinner.

When we finished ‌ our dinner. I peeked outside once again, and the snow was falling once again. We figured we would go outside in the morning to see if the key fit into that door. Manny lounged on the couch, and lay on his chest with Buddy curled up on the floor in front of us.

The next morning, as soon as we were ready for the day, Manny and I went outside to clean up the snow from the night before, but we wanted to go check out the door. I grabbed the key off of the nightstand. We headed towards the door. I slid the key into the keyhole and it turned. The door slowly opened. I grabbed a flashlight from the garage and shone the light in. The door led to a staircase. We slowly creeped down the steps holding onto the railing. When we got to the bottom of the door, there was another door. Manny grabbed the door knob but it was locked. I gave him the key and he opened the lock.

We slowly opened the door once again but this time the door led to a room. When the door was opening a smell came through the crack. We thought it was rotten food or mold. Manny opened the door wider and shone the flashlight inside. We noticed two eyes staring back at us. Manny shut the door and stared at me. He opened the door once again and shone the light on the area where we saw the two eyes. He opened the door and walked in. I saw a drawstring light and tugged on it. When the light turned on we saw a body sitting in the corner of the basement. The person looks like they have been in the basement for a long period of time.

We went back up the stairs and called the police. An hour later the police arrived at the house. We brought them down to the basement to see the body. The coroner came down right after the police and told us the body has been down there for a decade. They think she died while she was hiding from the snow but locked herself in there. We told them that our dog dug up the key from the front yard. The cops had no answers. The coroner took the body out and brought it to the morgue to see if they could identify the body. We locked up the door and put the key inside the garage.

We went on with our lives. This was the final straw for Manny who insisted we move to warmer weather. The police stopped by the house and told us the woman from the basement was the former owner of the house who was reported missing over a decade ago. They reported her missing when they didn’t hear from her but didn’t think of that basement because they warned her never to go down there. The basement locked easily and their mother would never take the key with her. They thought she just wandered off since she had Alzheimer's and would just wander around the town. The son thanked us for finding his mother, he understood if we wanted to move, since the winters were very harsh in that area.

Manny and I thought it would be best for us to move to warmer weather. We packed up our house and moved out before the winter came around the next year. As we were packing up I glanced at Manny and asked, “I still wonder how the key wound up outside?”

“Babe, I don’t know and I don’t care. Maybe we were supposed to find that key and help that woman. I want to get out of here and get to the warmer weather where we can hang out on the beach.”