Dark Past

Alex still can't believe that they have a basement. In the end, their house is just your usual two-story house for middle-class people. That has a vibrant color on the inside and white paint on the outside.

By now, her father is already outside her room, waiting for her. "Are you coming!?" Zach called out excitedly. Her father is giving the feeling of a kid wanting to show his favorite toys to his friends.

"Yes!"

Irene noticed that Serene is still in his husband's arms. "Give me Serene." Irene got out of the bed and snatched her daughter from Zach. "You can't bring your daughter in that dusty and hazardous place."

Zach scratched the back of his head. "I actually cleaned up that place one week ago." Zach can't help but feel apologetic. Ten years ago, he once promised that he would not enter that place again, yet he broke his promise two years ago to hide the 1st Generation capsules, saying it would be the last time.

Irene's warm aura after snatching Serene from Zach became incomparably cold. She lowered her voice with a tone like a devil that had crawled out of hell in Zach's ears. "We both promised to never bring back our dark past. Was it all for naught??"

Irene's cold aura gives chills to Alex and Zach's bodies. Irene can be the gentlest mother and wife in the world. But is the most horrifying woman when angered. Irene and Zach subconsciously thought at the same time.

"Sorry... I acted without thinking, but I only did it because your daughter can't stop mentioning something about war every day with a serious face." Zach could only push the blame to her daughter. Irene tends to have a soft spot for the kids, so Alex should be fine.

...

Alex was confused about how in the world is she blamed on this one!

Alex doesn't even know that they have a secret basement. Looking at his father's apologetic face, Alex can't help but feel more pissed off.

But when she thinks more about it. She recalled that she did unconsciously mumble a lot during training with her father it must be something about war.

"Wahhhh!!"

Out of nowhere, Serene suddenly started wailing. She must have felt the intimidating air around her mother.

As soon as she heard Serene started crying, Irene's cold and intimidating aura instantly reverted to her usual soft and warm aura. Irene then began rocking Serene gently.

"Go, get the game capsules first, but don't show her too much of that place. We'll talk later." Irene said as she concentrated on Serene.

Zach then dragged Alex out of the room.

...

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

Alex asked while following her father walking out of the house. "Where did you hide the basement? I have seen every nook and cranny of the house. I have never seen any place where you can secretly enter unnoticed." Their house is just too small to hide a secret place from her. She lived in this place for 18 years without even discovering it.

"You'll see it wouldn't be weird that you don't notice it at all."

Alex was confused because the direction they are heading towards is their neighbor's abandoned house.

Without notice, the owner of that house deserted it ten years ago. They even left without moving out any of their stuff inside. They just disappeared out of the blue, and since then no new people moved in.

Staring outside the gate of the one-story old house full of vines, Alex can't help but have second thoughts. "Aren't we trespassing here, dad??"

Zach did not even falter opening the gates.

Alex can only follow silently.

"Don't worry. The government has made this place into a restricted area." Zach said as he casually kicked the old door.

Aren't we more in trouble now!!!??

Despite Alex's worries, she still followed her father. After all, she was curious about her father's secret basement and her parent's past.

The interior of the house is unexpectedly big, enough for five people to live together.

Once she entered, she immediately smelled the dry, rotted stench. The place was full of dust, cobwebs, and broken stuff on the floor.

It was a relief that they went to this place in the middle of the afternoon. Alex guessed that if they went to this place during the night, it would be really spooky.

Alex then sees her father removing the dirty old white carpet in the middle of the room.

Out of nowhere, Zach stomped the floor thrice. Alex was stunned as a section of the floor started moving, revealing a set of stairs below as lights automatically turned on, illuminating the way.

"Isn't that too high tech!??" No one would expect that in this creepy old abandoned house exists a very high-tech basement.

"Well, this used to be the property of the government used to watch Irene and me in the past. It's not strange to have high-tech stuff around here." Zach exclaimed as they casually waited for the slow moving floor to be fully opened.

Her father's statement confused Alex. "Why are you guys being watched by the government? Are you guys some kind of criminals? Aren't you guys in the military before?" Alex rapidly fired question one after the other, curious about her parent's past. Alex doesn't really know that much about her parent's past life. Since they rarely talked about it.

"We are not criminals... In fact, we had the most contribution in the world... It's just that when we suddenly decided to retire. The people that we served and trusted have suddenly labeled us as one of the most dangerous people on earth." Zach can't help but feel dejected, remembering the bastards that they served for a long time. Only to be compensated with unkindness.

If it's her father, it wouldn't be odd for him to be called one of the most dangerous people on earth. What's shocking is that her mother is one of the most dangerous people on earth." Why is mother labeled as dangerous??"

"Let's not talk about our dark past anymore. Your mother might give me a beating later if I talk too much." Seeing as the floor is now fully opened, Zach started going down the basement, avoiding Alex's questions.

Zach turned around to her daughter and said one last time. "We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it."