The next day was too gloomy for me. It made me realise that I'm just as lonely as jack. I've got no real friends. It also made me realise how important he was to me. When he had told me that he'd give me proof I didn't want to find it. I didn't want to find the truth. I don't want to find that he was telling the truth. I don't wanna accept that reality. I don't want my family to crumble

I don't speak to him today either. Deep down I want to talk to him. I want the tension to fade away. At night I try to sleep but I can't. It's unbearable...

"Hey," he calls. He's there on the desk again. I don't answer and pretend to sleep.

"No use pretending to sleep, I know you're awake. "

"...what? "

"You mad at me? "

I sigh "No... it's just...too much "I hear him giggling

"It's not over yet," he says

I turn around and face him. He's got a look I've never seen before." What do you mean? "

He smirks. Getting off the desk he walks towards the door and turns around saying "Follow me "

I follow behind him downstairs. Where is he going? In the middle of the night, everyone's asleep

He walks into the kitchen and stops at the wall."Get a marker " he says

"What for? "

" Just do it "

I groan and get a marker from one of the drawers.

"Now don't ask questions, just follow my instructions," he says and points at the bottom of the wall and then his finger goes up to a certain point. "Draw a line from there till here "

As much as I'd hate to get in trouble because of this I comply. He does that two more times until I figure out I've drawn a door.

"Now get a knife and cut through the lines "

I stare at him "What? You want me to cut through the wallpaper? For what? "

He simply rolls his eyes "Just do it. Trust me, you'll see "

I grab a knife and as I press it on the line, it surprisingly goes in as if there's no wall. Then I realize and turn towards the jack.

"This is a secret door isn't it ?" to which he nods his head. I quickly cut through the lines forming an outline of a door.

"How do we open it? " I try pushing it but it doesn't budge. He points above the refrigerator.

"There's a small key over there " I get a footstool and using my hand search for the key. Something cold and metallic graces my fingers and it turns out to be the key.

"The keyhole is hidden here. " He points to the wall. I get the knife and try to peel off the wallpaper from the keyhole.

After opening the door I see a staircase and darkness beyond it. There is a flashlight on the kitchen counter and I use it to light the way. Seems like a long way down there.

"You knew about this? " I ask jack

"Duh, I've been here for a long time. Let's go "

As we go down watching our step and flinging away cobwebs it's actually a big hidden basement. There is a thick layer of dust everywhere. I see old boxes, drums, planks of wood old furniture etc.

" Why did you keep this place a secret from me," I ask but he doesn't reply. He simply walks to the middle of the room and looks around as if searching for something.

"Jack? " I call him but he ignores it and points towards a pile of boxes.

"Remove those from that spot," he says. His voice too serious.

I silently comply and start to take away the boxes one by one. After I'm done the place is empty.

"That brick wall....take out the bricks," he says

"What's going on? What are you trying to show me!? " I find myself getting frustrated.

"Just do it. You'll see "

I go over to the wall and try to take out a brick. At first, it was tough but it eventually got out. As soon as it did, a pungent rotting smell filled my nostrils and made me gag.

"Gross! What's this smell " then it all clicked...I felt all blood drain from my face. I look back at jack. He avoided my gaze. I then took another brick out quickly. Then another one, then another one and kept going till there was a wide hole in the wall about my own size. What I saw inside combined with The smell made me vomit.

In front of me were decomposed bodies. One of an adult, seemingly a woman because of the dress and the other shorter one a preteen.

I felt myself trembling and turned to jack who was simply staring at the scene.

" Explain it to me now! " my voice going meek

"Let me tell you a story " he sits down comfortably

"What? "

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful rich lady. Her parents had died and she had no relatives to go to. She was very lonely living alone. Then later she met a man and they both fell in love with each other. To her, he was prince charming who had rescued her from a dark lonely world. Time passed and they got married and later had a baby boy. Everything was going well. Until the lady found out her husband was doing the ' bad things ' and was very upset. He wasn't a prince but a monster in disguise. One day the kid was sleeping when he heard his parents shouting and arguing loudly. He got worried and tried to go back to sleep. Minutes later he noticed that the shouting had suddenly stopped. Curiosity and worry got the best of him and he went to see what happened. He didn't see anyone around but the basement door was open so he went in there..."

I was starting to understand everything...and it made my chest tighten

"Jack..." I began to say but he wasn't finished.

"He saw his dad making a hole in the wall and his mom laying next to him. She looked so...lifeless and still. Unfortunately, his dad had heard his footsteps. The monster looked at the boy and called him down. But the boy was frozen in place. He called him again saying "It's ok son, come here" and "Moms fine, come see for yourself ". The boy then quickly turned around and tried to run away but the monster was quick on his feet and caught him in no time." tears were streaming down his face. I've never seen him this devastated.

" Why...didn't you tell me. You lied about not remembering anything didn't you " I manage to say

"What's the point. A kid like you wouldn't have done anything " it hurts me when he says that.

" We could have reported it to the police. Now I get why you cant rest in peace. But what about your mom " I glance back at the body

"Don't know about that "

"Jack! Now I'm starting to understand you. And let me tell you this, you don't have to be sad anymore. You got me! Forget whatever happened before, I'm here for you like a brother. I always wanted you to open up to me and now that you have I will do everything I can to help you! Don't worry, you have us! Both mom and da-" the sudden reminder of dad made me stop in his tracks

Jack smirks and starts laughing.

" Why are you laughing? " I say defensively

After he's done he says "Dan, do you know, the story doesn't end there "

" huh? "

"The monster later ends up with all money that belonged to the lady. After some time he remarries and have a baby boy " he gets up and starts to walk towards me. My face growing pale.

" The man and his family later on move into the house of the lady he had murdered "

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was trembling violently and felt that my heart would stop any minute now. Everything was being shattered to pieces in my mind. The times we spent as a family all come crashing down. I tried to say something but no voice came out

" I've spent so much time in here. Wishing a day would come when I could have my revenge and utterly destroy him. Ha! I was on cloud nine when I found out that he and his family were moving here. I wanted to ruin everything he held dear to him. I was originally going to kill all of you when you arrive. Starting with you. Imagine my surprise when I realized that you could see me. I was caught off guard. But seeing HIM made my non-existent blood boil and I just wanted to torture him."

My world was falling apart. All this time, I had thought that he felt lonely and wish to be part of my happy family. He was the one person who I thought was not fake and truly loved everyone...

"But...you know what? When I saw how much you and your mom loved him oblivious to his true nature, it disgusted me. If I kill him, he will die but he'll live on in your hearts. After he'll die people will miss him, they'll remember him, cry over him, pray for him. I hated it. No one remembered me or my mom! No one cared for us! No one cried for us. If I killed him he'll die as ' a good person and loving father'. I made up my mind to ruin him socially. Make everyone hate him. "

" Jack...please...I'm sorry.." I sob. I try to cover my ears. I want him to stop talking. The more he talks the more cracks I feel in me. I'm going to break.

"I hate you, Daniel. The way you love your dad makes me very sick. You have NO idea how much I had to restrain myself from attacking him whenever I saw his face. You probably thought all this time I yearned for his ' fatherly love' didn't you? You really are gullible. You feel sorry for ME believing that I'm the lonely one. You're a pitiful person. I exposed your dad's deeds to you. If you had only confronted him, he would have killed you and your mom too. Too bad really "

my chest feels as if my heart is gonna stop. Tears flow uncontrollably and I can't find my voice.

Suddenly we hear heavy footsteps coming down...