The Hidden Room

Lucrecia finds a locked room. 300-word flash

The Hidden Room

“Daddy, Daddy! I found a secret room! ” young Lucrecia cried.
Her father frozen. He eventually looked at her.
“Nonsense, my child, there’s nothing secret about it. It is merely hidden. Run along and play. Stay away from that room!
Lucrecia moped away. It had been so exciting finding that room. But the door was locked, and she wanted to see inside.

She wandered into the kitchen and stared at the key rack that hung there. Getting a chair, she climbed on it so she could examine the keys there. Most of them, she was familiar with, but one large and very ornate one caught her eye.
With much stretching and straining to reach, she managed to grab the end of the key and unhook it.
“This must be the one!” she said as she got off the chair and put it back in its place. She skipped off to the room and with much twisting and turning she opened the door.

She couldn’t believe her eyes. There chained to a bed was a girl that looked exactly like her. Creeping forward to the bed, Lucrecia stammered:
“Who are you? What’s your name?”
In a mere whisper, the thin pale girl answered: “I’m Lucy. I’m your twin.”
Lucrecia’s mouth dropped open.
“Why are you locked in here?”
“Daddy doesn’t like me. He wishes I were dead.”

Lucrecia began working on the chains with the key. They parted quickly. She helped her sister off the bed and out the door.
“Lucrecia! I told you to stay out of this room!” bellowed her father from the end of the hall.
“But Daddy, she is my sister. She should be free like me!”
“Take her back, now!”
Lucrecia felt slender hands around her neck. They began choking her until she died.