November, 1980

Rose Calhoun drove her car down a winding road to a house on the hill that had every journalist in Willow Grove, scratching their heads. The story, the one in the paper, stated that Mr and Mrs. Grey were hiding something from the public. Of course this could have just been a silly rumor to give the boring town something to talk about, but the reporter didn't believe that it was just harmless gossip. She had evidence.

Her studies showed that the couple had lost their twin daughters last June. The strange thing was that there wasn't any records of the event on file. When she had taken this news to her boss he told her that it might be an error, that maybe the couple forgot to update the information. Everyone else in office thought the same, so the article was marked off of the upcoming newspaper issue. But still the file ate at her. Rose didn't want to back off of The Hollow Estate story, unlike her colleagues, she decided to pursue it.

So this was were she was driving on a chilly Saturday morning; to a hidden, old mansion that looked down on a small town. Her hands tapped the steering wheel while the radio dissed out updates on the weather: "Chilling winds, eight inches of snow to come. Prepare yourselves for tonight's blizzard." The light flashed to red and the car halted. One went on longingly. The woman took this time to go over the questions in her notepad.

"Okay..." Rose bit down on a pen. "Number one: Why can't you tell the public about your daughters death? Two: How was it caused? Three: Where are their bodies?" Maybe that's too personal. She thought. Then she erased it. Older people seemed to be very touchy. In the end, there were only four left. "What are your hobbies? How is the healing process? Do you think your daughters were murdered? Where were you when it happened?" She needed one more question. But she didn't stress over that. Rose was good at brainstorming questions on the spot. There were five interviews where she'd done exactly that.

The light turned green and traffic picked up. Rush hour was beginning and it was horror on Main Street. It took her an hour to get out of the overflown streets and another to find the entrance to the massive historic home. The car drove up the long drive way and parked. She stepped out and pulled up her trench coat's collar. A chained gate met her down the walkway. This caught her off guard. Why would two people as themselves need a locked gate like this? Nevermind that. She ignored and spied an intercom and held down the button. "Mr. and Mrs. Grey." Rose held down the button to the old speaker attached to the fence. "Can I have a word? I write for The Grub." She let go of the button and waited.

"No reporters!" a voice said sharply. "Have a nice and safe drive, good day!"

"Sorry, sir, but I had a long journey here; don't think I can take no for an answer."

There was a lingering pause before the man's rude voice returned, "Good day!" he said indefinitely.

She huffed and raised her voice, "Excuse me. I'm Rose Calhoun and I'm here to interview The Grey family." The intercom was silent. "Sir?" The man had left. She rang the doorbell for a while before hiking through icy dry leaves and bitter winds. In the car, she waited until someone exited.

***

Night fell. Rose waited for movement. Any kind. A light in the window, a voice, something. An hour passed of nothing. Her feet stepped out of a black car-sprinting back up the long hill, this time determined to speak to the married couple. The woman had a strange feeling that the man on the intercom was pushing her away. That made her even more curious. Hmm...

She found an opening in the fence, big enough for her body to squeeze through. She wiggled knobs of large doors on the side and back of the house; none were open, so next she tried the windows. Most of them were heavily shaded that no light showed. One that looked into the basement was ajar. Her toned arms forced it up and she crawled inside. The huge room was sectioned off, the area she stood in was a hallway. Rose ventured down it and found herself in a maze made of walls. Chest pumping. Uh oh. Her feet scrambled in haste to find a way out of the zigzagging route. The woman looked for the window, but now even that was lost.

"I don't want to be buried, I want to be with them!" A woman shouted from above. "Why can't you just do as I'm telling you?!"

"It's not right to do that, my dear, everyone in town knows how sick you are and are going to ask questions when your body never leaves the house," The husband, the voice from the intercom, said bluntly. "Sorry, but I cannot do to you as I did with our daughters, it was a miracle that even came and passed unnoticed."

A glass broke and a chair pushed across the floor, "You will do it, if you don't I will handle it myself." A door slammed.

Rose paused, wondering what Mr. Grey meant. What did he do with their daughters? She heard footsteps close by; creaking on stairs. She hid as the wall before her extended out, revealing the woman from upstairs. Her face drenched, in tears she whispered. "I'll do it myself."

Another secret wall opened and a second room appeared, this is where the wife stopped. "My babies, oh my sweet little girls!"

She didn't believe her ears, this woman is insane, her daughters are dead. Rose tip-toed to see who Mrs. Grey was talking to. On the wall, wedged into the cement were two small heads. The infants eyes were open, moving in a delayed and creepy motion. Shivers vibrated over her body as she watched; silenced by shock. The woman opened a jar of baby food and feed her daughters, who chewed the substance. The girls twitched and cooed gratefully at their mother. Excited, as most infants are for their dinner.

Mrs. Grey stroked their cheeks. She used a cloth to clean their faces of green slop. As she did this, one of the babies fixed its eyes on Rose. She jumped back and slid behind the wall, hoping the gasp that escape her lips wasn't heard. Her mouth gaped open and a sickness turned her stomach. These people had their children inside a basement wall! Their deceased children; who weren't at all. The thought alone made her dizzy. She didn't expect to find this. Not at all. Rose heard the sound of heels tapping furiously on the pavement; heading back towards her. Her hands struggled finding a hidden door in the wall.

"YOOU!" The wife yelled once she saw someone in her house. "Get out, stay away from my CHILDREN!!" Rose patted the walls as she dashed away from a raging Mrs. Grey. Failing to uncover an exit. "James!" The wife called to her husband. "There's someone in my house!"

A dead end smacked her in the face. Hot pain took her down. A hand grabbed her by the collar. Rose staggered back, blood dripping from her nose. In the room with her infants, is where the woman took her. Rose, in a blurry panic; looked for a weapon. There was nothing around to help her fight. Her body dragged across the floor, jerking, trying to loosen the grip that held her. The wife tightened her fists, making it impossible for her to break free.

"WAAA!!" The infants whined out in discomfort at the hostel sight. Sensing danger. Their voices shrilling out.

"Mommy's sorry." The mother pleaded to her daughters. "She won't make anymore noise to upset her little pumpkins, she promises." She shot Rose a dirty look. "Why are you in my house?" She whispered deadly. "Who are you?"

"I-I'm so sorry." Rose's voice broke. "Please just let me go."

"You didn't answer the questions I asked you." Mr. Grey smacked her.

"AHH!" She cried. "I'm from The Grub." She shook in fear. "It's a-"

The woman held up a hand to silence her. "I know exactly what it is, it's one of those dense and pathetic tabloids that squeezes until it finds juicy scoop." She shut the thick door in the wall and locked it. "You're here for an interview. Tell me, if you ever got out of here, what would you have written?"

"Nothing-"

"Oh, but of course that's not true, you're a parasite that thrives on a good story for the paper! So tell me what the article would have said!" The children weeped out again. Squirming their plastered covered bodies. Wailing. "You're making my children cry." Her voice lighten. "They don't like the sneaky brownnosed lady who's making their mommy so angry. So what does that mean for you?" She knelt down and faced her.

Rose's heart crashed in her ribcage. "I won't tell anyone about what I found, I promise, please just let me go."

"I don't think so." Mrs. Grey ran her hands down her nightgown. "You're never leaving. No matter how hard you try, you are part of the story now."

***

The disappearance of Rose Calhoun was a complete mystery of Creeksville. The Grub newspaper issued an article dedicated to the woman after a year of searching and printing out missing persons flyers for their top reporter. Then a few months later there was finally a closure ceremony for the realization of her death. The townspeople weren't entirely wrong and neither were they right. They didn't know that her body was engraved in the old Hollow Estate just outside their neighborhood. Or that, regardless of her condition, she still lived.