I followed Henry down the creaking ladder and squinted around in the deep gloom below.

The root seller smelled strongly of damp earth beneath that, an unpleasant undertone of

moldy potatoes.

A shivered in the damp air and called out Henry, uh, Henry where'd you go?

I waited for a few moments, listening for his footsteps, and hearing nothing but the

low static roll of silence.

I fished my phone out of my pocket and clicked on the flashlight, revealing a few dusty

shell units and a small pile of crumbling bricks in the corner.

Henry was gone.

I checked the only possible hiding spot, a space beneath the stairs that led up to the

double doors from outside.

But Henry was nowhere to be seen.

I halfheartedly called out his name again, but it appeared Henry had taken a sidestep somewhere.

I was alone.

I grumbled.

Thanks Henry.

And shuffled over to click on the only light in the root seller, and they could bulb

jutted out of a fixture that had only been nailed to a floor joust.

I pulled the dangling length of pine that served as a switch, turned around, and took a sharp

breath.

Henry and my dad appeared in flickering light, both of them leaning into a rectangular hole

in the wall in the far side of the room.

...