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Speaker 1: Welcome listeners to fast Food Horror and this final installment

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of the Tale of the House on Morrow Hill, Decisions

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to be Made, written by E. J.

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Speaker 2: Miller and narrated by E. J.

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Speaker 1: Miller and Stephanie Miller.

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Speaker 2: I woke to the sound of the front door closing,

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which was an odd sound to wake to if I

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were in the master bedroom way at the rear of

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the house. But I was not in the master bedroom.

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I was on the living room couch with a comforter

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tucked all around me, sun streaming through the curtains, the

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rays of light shining through the open drapes, specks of

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dust playfully dancing in the air, with a nagging question

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peer wetting in my head, how did I get here?

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I remember driving home with stuff from the city, fretting

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over the video uncovered by the various surveillance cameras, trying

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to figure out how to broach the subject of the

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cameras and their contents, and me not wanting to be

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here anymore, not living with the shadows. I heard the

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crush of gravel outside the windows, signifying someone either pulling

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up to the house or driving away. A glance out

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the window found it was steph. Driving away from the house,

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I fouled the smell of coffee to the kitchen, looking

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for caffeine and answers. I found both, one in the

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form of some freshly brood Sasquatch Coffee Company coffee, and

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the second being a small note from my bride at

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my spot at the breakfast nook. It read good morning.

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You were dead asleep on our way home, and you snored.

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I was able to guide you out of the car

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and into the house. You seemed pretty adamant about sleeping

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on the couch. Hope you slept. Okay, I'm going to

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town to pick up some supplies and some groceries. Remember,

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the furnace guy is coming to day. Make sure you

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let him in. I'll be home shortly, love me. I

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took a long gulp of coffee and was about to

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go back to my cell phone and look at the

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video again when I heard a knock at the door.

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It was the furnace guy. He introduced himself as Cedric Young,

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a third generation furnace guy, having taken over the business

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from his father. He assured me he had seen everything

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and there wasn't a furnace he couldn't fix. I led

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him to the basement door, and he barreled on ahead,

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leaving me at the top of the staircase in his dust.

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I admired his ambition and his energy. I grabbed my coffee,

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forgot about the cell phone, and went on to take

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a shower. A few minutes later, I emerged, clean and awake,

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glided back into the kitchen to freshen up my coffee.

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At the exact same time, Cedric the furnace air came

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up from the basement and announced he had now seen everything.

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He said he had never seen a furnace like that,

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but he assured me after tinkering with it, it was

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in fine working order now. He told me he would

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bill me later as he made his way to the

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front door, and then turned on a dime at the

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door and asked the most curious question, what did the

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trap door behind the furnace lead to? I told him

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we had just moved in and I had not even

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explored the basement yet. He explained that many homes of

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this age, especially from that era, always had curious secrets

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from what they used for insulation, floorboards that were removable,

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where people stashed money in valuables, wall and floor safes

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to forgotten rooms, but he had never found one with

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a secret sub basement. He asked to let me know

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after I explored it what I found, and then he

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made his exit, leaving me alone in the house with

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the mystery of the trap door. I did what any

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rational person would do in my place. I did what

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any rational person would do in my place. I found

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the flashlight and made my way to the basement door

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while calling Steph. Maybe she knew about it and knew

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exactly what was in it. Maybe she didn't know at all,

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but the curiosity was killing me and I had to

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go see for myself. The call went directly to voicemail.

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I left a message about the furnace being okay, and

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then going right into the secret trapdoor. Cedric the furnace

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air told me was behind the furnace and told her

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then I was going exploring. I got to the bottom

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of the basement stairs and turned on the flashlight to

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cut through the darkness. The basement was bigger than I expected,

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and just as dark. A few small, dirty windows here

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and there gave some light. The rest was provided by

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bare bulbs every few yards, enough to see what was

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fifteen feet in front of you. The rest was darkness

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and shadow until the next bulb or window. It seemed

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to go on forever and appeared to extend far beyond

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the framework of the house, Going deeper and deeper back,

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I made my way past stacks of old boxes, old

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fashioned trunks containing god knows what discarded furniture, shelves of

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papers and books, knickknacks and memories. I finally found the

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furnace at the end of the labyrinth, looking more like

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a giant oven than it did a furnace, all oxidized iron,

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dusty with cobwebs and thyme. I made my way behind it,

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and sure enough my light caught the trap door, a

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three x three foot square in the middle of the

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concrete floor with an iron ring to open it by.

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I lifted the iron ring latch to pull the trap

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door up as my cell phone started to buzz. It

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was steph but as soon as I picked up the call,

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the signal dropped. I found a wooden ladder leading to

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the floor below, and carefully made my way lower and

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lower as my phone continued to buzz, before stopping as

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suddenly as it started. My feet found the concrete floor.

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I found a pole chain for a light directly in

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front of me and pulled it. I immediately regretted it.

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The one light bulb seemed to light up a majority

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of the room. On the one wall were two sets

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of chains and shackles affixed to the concrete wall. There

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was what appeared to be an operating table to my

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right with sets of tools behind it rusted with age

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or stained saws, knives, scalpels, and pliers. To my left

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was what I can only describe as being a large

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set of small drawers four hundred or so, much like

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an old style library card catalog. And behind me, as

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I turned around and played my flashlight through the cavernous room,

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three sets of cells, and in the cell to the

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right bones clumped in the corner, complete with a skull,

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a human skull. I made my way over to the

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drawers and found them marked in handwritten script with names

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and dates. I opened up one at random. Inside I

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found a watch, a wedding ring, and two sets of molars.

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Inside the next, I found a pocket watch, a few teeth,

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and a bracelet. Inside the next a small wooden carved animal,

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a bear, a child's toy. I'm sure, two smaller teeth,

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and a ribbon faded red again and again I opened

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drawers and found more of the same in each. The handwriting,

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though changed as I proceeded down the line, and then

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towards the far right of the drawers, empty empty drawers,

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not yet filled with no names or dates.

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Speaker 1: And then.

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Speaker 3: I wish you would answer your phone.

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Speaker 2: Oh my head. Did I hit my head on a

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rafter or fall?

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Speaker 3: Oh no, honey, sorry about your head. I only meant

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to give you a love tap. I wanted us to

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come down here together so I could so I could

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show you, so I could tell you tell me. I

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spent a lot of summers here when I was a girl,

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spent time with Granddad in the orchard, pottering around the

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property doing chores, and he used to take me down

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here to my great great grandfather's private laboratory to help

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him continue his work. He said he saw the same

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spark in me that his father had in him, the joy.

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We had such good times down here playing continuing the work.

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After seeing my joy for it, he told me that

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this would all be mine one day, to continue the legacy,

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to continue the work my great grandfather started all those

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years ago. This is my inheritance. This is my birthright

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and my responsibility to all of them.

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Speaker 2: And now what you're gonna leave me in the cell?

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Speaker 3: No, you choose, choose, don't be naive.

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Speaker 2: Choose to help you murder, butcher end stuff. The shadows.

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Was I going crazy?

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Speaker 1: Or them?

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Speaker 3: You get used to them. They can't hurt us. They're ghosts,

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their souls trapped here, trapped in these walls. They feed

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the house. They give the house power and give the

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owners power, and the house must be fed. Now you

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must choose join me or join the shadows. I'll just

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let you stay down here and think about it, just

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bang on the bars when you've come to the right decision.

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Speaker 2: Seven nights. I don't think there will be an eighth.

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Not for us

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Speaker 1: Yet