Amanda stared at her little sister, her heart pounding violently against her ribs.
Amanda: Lily... what did you just say?
Lily: Mommy is inside. She has been crying all morning because the light bulb went out.
Jason: Lily, that is impossible. Your mother left for an extended medical retreat in Arizona last month. Claire showed us the signed letters.
Amanda: Claire showed us typed letters, Jason! She never let me talk to my mother on the phone!
Jason: That was because of the medical isolation policy at the treatment center.
Amanda: Are you listening to yourself? Look at Lily's face!
Amanda grabbed a heavy rusted crowbar leaning against the corner workbench.
Jason: Amanda, wait! If you damage the property, Claire can file a restraining order and lock you out of the family trust entirely!
Amanda: To hell with the trust fund!
She jammed the wedge of the crowbar behind the heavy iron latch.
Jason: Are you crazy? Stop!
Amanda: Break it! Help me break it right now or get out of my way!
Lily: Push hard, Amanda! Please!
Jason looked at the little girl's trembling hands, hesitated, and then gripped the metal bar alongside Amanda.
Jason: On three. One, two, three—pull!
The rusted screws groaned against the aged timber frame, popping one after another.
Amanda: Again! Put your back into it!
With a deafening crack of splintering oak, the metal hasp tore free from the wall, leaving the lock dangling uselessly.
The heavy door slowly drifted inward, revealing total pitch-black darkness and the smell of damp stone.
Amanda: Mom? Are you in there?
A weak, ragged gasp echoed from the corner of the small windowless room.
Voice: Amanda...? Is that... my baby?
Amanda pulled her phone from her pocket and snapped on the flashlight beam.
The bright light illuminated a thin mattress on the concrete floor, surrounded by plastic water bottles and half-eaten trays of bread.
Curled against the wall was a woman in an oversized gray sweater, shielding her eyes from the sudden brightness.
Amanda: Oh God... Mom!
Amanda dropped to her knees, wrapping her arms around the frail, shaking frame of her mother, Evelyn.
Evelyn: You came back... I prayed every single night that you would come home before they made me sign.
Jason: Evelyn? How on earth... Claire told the entire estate board that you checked into an inpatient clinic!
Evelyn: Claire locked me in here the night your father's will was read.
Amanda: She told everyone you abandoned us for a cash settlement!
Evelyn: She took my phone, my medication, and my identification cards.
Lily: Mommy, I brought you crackers yesterday through the laundry chute, did you get them?
Evelyn: I did, my brave little girl. You saved my life.
Suddenly, heavy footsteps echoed on the stairs above them, accompanied by the sharp click of high heels.
Claire: What is going on down there? Who broke that door?
Amanda slowly stood up, her jaw tightening as she stepped out into the hallway to face her stepmother.