Chapter 5 - The Manila Vault
Ethan set Maya down on her feet behind his legs, shielding her small pink dress with his body.
"Stay behind me, Maya," he said softly.
He grabbed the heavy brass handle of the cabinet door with both hands.
"Ethan! Ethan, don't open that!" Clara screamed from the floor behind him.
She clawed her way across the floorboards, grabbing the cuff of his jeans with her trembling, ink-stained fingers.
"You don't understand! She was sick! Sarah was sick, and I was just trying to protect the estate!"
Ethan didn't even look down at her.
He kicked his heel backward, knocking her grip free from his denim cuff.
He pulled the oak door with everything he had.
CREAK.
The old hinges groaned, splitting the dried wood around the frame as the door swung wide open.
Inside, stacked neatly on the top shelf, were six thick manila folders bound with red rubber bands.
On the front of the top folder, written in dark blue fountain pen ink, was his late wife’s unmistakable handwriting:
MEDICAL REPORTS - STATEMENT OF FORCED ISOLATION - PROPERTY TRANSFERS TO CLARA.
Below the folders lay an old cassette tape and a small, silver-plated hospital bracelet.
Clara let out a long, ragged wail from the floor, collapsing onto her stomach and burying her face in her arms.
Ethan reached out, his thick fingers trembling as they touched the smooth cardboard of the manila files.
May you like
His thumb brushed over his wife’s handwriting, feeling the dried indentation of the pen line.
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