I (21 M) am in college across the country from my family, over an 18 hour drive from my university to hometown.
I’m writing this because I know I will never tell anyone, nor will I ever let my parents know that I’m aware of their secret.
My father is wealthy, he’s a normal businessman, VP of a large international corporation. My mother is about 9 years younger than my dad. She hangs out at the country club, goes on walks with friends, the whole white mom nine yards.
They seem like super normal people, maybe a little entitled, but I love them. However, 5 days ago, I realized I never knew who they truly were.
So here’s what happened: Every fall we get a small week long break from school. This year I decided to go back home and see my parents.
Recently they had someone break into the house and steal a couple valuables like a computer and some jewelry. Naturally my parents installed cameras and alarms inside and outside the house.
Now the problem in this story is the position of the cameras. We have them in lots of normal spots. By the front door, side windows, stairs, garage, etc.
But there was one camera that was focused on a single door. It was my father’s office. My whole life that door was locked. I had never even seen it cracked a few inches open. Every time I inquired about it, I was met with a simple “don’t go in there.” Of course I was curious and might’ve tried to take a peek inside. But there was a lock on it that needed a key.
I was always suspicious of what was inside. But now I could at least get a glance of the inside. Secretly, I downloaded the security app onto my phone and connected the cameras. My mom and dad are not very tech savvy so I don’t think they ever noticed anyone on the wifi could access the videos. All footage from cameras are saved on the app and deleted after 7 days. So every couple nights I would fast forward through the video and see if the door was opened during those day. It was 8 days until the door was opened for the first time.
I was back in college by this point. And I had just finished my schoolwork and gotten into bed. I opened up the security app, like I do every night and checked to see if anyone had entered throughout the day. As I scanned through I noticed it open for a split second and then close again as it continued to fast forward. My heart sank. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t stairs. I paused and rewinded to when the door opened. It was my father opening the door using a small silver key. He walked down the stairs and about 2 minutes later he came out. As innocent as this clip seems, I never knew we had a basement. Wasn’t mentioned once in my life.
So now I was determined to investigate. Looking back, I should’ve left it alone. I’d rather be ignorant than know the truth.
The door would open 5 times in the next day. I will account for the times of every occurrence and what happens on the video cameras:
Instance 1: 5:36 pm
My father pulls into the driveway coming home from what I can only assume is work. My mom greets him at the front door where they make small talk and kiss. My dad asks if she’s ready for their date tonight to which my mom responds saying she’s gonna hop in the shower and start doing her make up now.
My dad then tells her to try and look as young as possible. This would’ve come off as creepy to me, if it didn’t just seem like a mean thing to say. But, she just said alright and ran up the stairs.
My dad then walks over to the door, unlocks it and walks down the stairs. 4 minutes and 28 seconds he is seen again coming up the stairs. He locks the door behind him.
Instance 2: 6:50 pm
My mom comes down the stairs freshly showered, make up done and wearing a very small and revealing dress. Not something I’d ever seen her wear before.
My father also comes down the stairs, however he is in a t-shirt and pants. A much more casual attire than my mom’s.
He proceeds to walk her to the car outside. On the way out I can hear him mumbling to my mom but I can’t quite make out what he’s saying. He returns inside where he unlocks the door and goes down the stairs. He is down there for almost 30 minutes until he comes out. Surprisingly he leaves the door unlocked. He then walks out the front door, get into our other car and drives away.
Instance 3: 11:40 pm
My mom’s car pulls into the driveway. There are two figures in the front seat. My mother, and another young man I didn’t recognize. He looked to be maybe only a couple years older than me, Probably late 20’s. He was tall, had dark hair and a full beard.
Closely, they walked inside together and sat on the couch. All of a sudden the man made a move on my mom and they began making out. That’s when, 3 minutes later, my father’s car pulls into the driveway. He has an old mustang so you can hear it from inside the house.
My mom jumps up and begins ushering the man up, exclaiming that her husband is home and that he needs to get out of here. She drags him over to the door, opens it and tells him to go down the stairs into the basement and climb through the window that leads to the side of the house. I guess In the heat of the moment he wasn’t thinking and just agreed. My mom then closes the door and locks it behind him. My father enters the front door and and calls out for my mother. She yells back at him that she’s by the basement door. He walks over and asks, “did it work?” She nods.
10 seconds of silence is then broken by the bone shivering screams and pounding on the door coming from the other side. This man my mom brought home, was stuck in our secret basement, and they wanted him to be there.
My parents walk upstairs, and the screams do not stop for another 15 minutes. From then they become quieter and more inconsistent
Instance 4: 1:23 am
My dad appears again coming downstairs holding rope and a handgun. He isn’t wearing anything. He is completely unclothed.
He walks to the door and yells at the man inside that he is opening the door and that if he tries to escape or pull any tricks he will die. He quickly tosses the rope into the basement and tells the young man to bind his hands and feet. The continuous pleads to be set free are ignored by my dad.
He opens the door a minute later pointing the gun at the young man who is now tied up. He leads him down the stairs and closes the door behind him.
For about the next 30 minutes all you can hear from the recording outside the door is very muffled screaming. The type of screaming that can only be produced when in tremendous stress or pain.
Instance 5: 2:11 am
The screaming has stopped. The door opens and my father exits. Blood is splattered on his hands and arms and he Carrie’s a trash bag. Obviously he has done unspeakable things to this man. He locks the door behind him and brings the trash bag upstairs.
That is the last time I saw the door open.