The Child at the Wedding Table

The tunnel was a claustrophobic nightmare of dripping stone and thick, creeping smoke. The fire above was finding the ventilation shafts, pushing the toxic air down into the earth.

Elena moved silently, her bare feet—she had discarded her heels long ago—making no sound on the wet rock. She didn't use the flashlight. She kept her hand on the cold stone wall, letting memory guide her.

This tunnel didn't lead outside. It led to the old prohibition-era vault beneath the carriage house. Arthur wouldn't know that. He thought he was walking to freedom. He was walking into a dead end.

Up ahead, she heard a muffled sob.

Elena slowed. A faint, flickering orange light danced against the tunnel walls.

She crept to the edge of the vault entrance and peered around the archway.

The vault was a massive circular room with a heavy steel door that stood open. Inside, Camilla was on her knees, coughing violently, her red dress smeared with soot.

Arthur was frantically pushing against the back wall of the vault, searching for a lever or a hidden door.

"There has to be a way out!" Arthur screamed, kicking the stone. "Where does it open?"

"It doesn't!" Camilla cried. "It's a vault! You trapped us!"

Arthur turned, raising his gun toward her. "Shut up! Shut up and help me look!"

Elena stepped into the archway.

"She's right, Dad," Elena said.

Arthur spun around, his gun leveling on Elena. His eyes were wide, manic. The bleeding from his shoulder had soaked half his trench coat.

"Ellie," Arthur panted. "Good. You know the code to get out of here. Open the back door."

"There is no back door," Elena said, her voice eerily calm. She stepped fully into the light, holding her mother’s silver rosary up for him to see.

Arthur’s eyes locked onto the dangling cross. He swallowed hard.

"You left her there to die," Elena said, her voice echoing in the stone chamber. "You took this off her neck while she was bleeding on our kitchen floor."

"I needed the money," Arthur pleaded, stepping backward. "The Romanos were going to kill me, Ellie! I had to give them something of value! It was antique silver!"

"She was your wife."

"I did it for you!" Arthur screamed, a pathetic, desperate lie. "I ran so they wouldn't take you too!"

"You ran because you're a coward," Elena said.

Suddenly, the ceiling above them groaned with a terrifying, splintering crack. A shower of burning embers fell from the ventilation shaft into the center of the vault. The carriage house above was fully ablaze.

Arthur looked up, sheer terror crossing his face.

He looked at Elena, blocking the only exit. He looked at Camilla on the floor.

With a feral yell, Arthur darted out of the vault, shoving his shoulder hard against the massive steel door.

"No!" Camilla screamed.

Elena lunged forward, but she wasn't fast enough.

Arthur threw all his weight against the heavy door. It swung shut with a deafening metallic screech. The heavy locking bolts clicked into place from the outside.

Elena slammed her hands against the cold steel.

"Dad!" she screamed, her voice cracking.

Through the thick metal, she heard his muffled voice. "I'm sorry, Ellie. I have to survive."

Footsteps splashed away down the tunnel.

Elena turned around. The vault was filling rapidly with thick, black smoke pouring in from the ceiling vents. There was no air. There was no light, save for the glowing embers dropping onto the floor.