My older brother gives me ‘sleeping tea’ every night… until one night I pretended to drink it and discovered the secret hidden inside our house.

I stepped forward quietly, keeping close to the wall so the floor wouldn’t creak under my feet.

The closer I moved toward the staircase, the stronger the strange smell became.

Dust.

Metal.

And something else I couldn’t immediately identify.

At the top of the basement stairs stood the old wooden door Daniel always kept locked.

Tonight it was open.

Just slightly.

A thin strip of light spilled into the hallway like a secret slipping through a crack.

I hesitated there longer than I expected.

Part of me wanted to turn back.

To go back to my room, pretend I had slept, pretend none of this was happening.

But the memory of Mom’s voice pushed forward again.

“There are truths buried where people think no one will look.”

I placed my hand on the door and pushed.

The hinges groaned softly.

Below the staircase, the basement light was on.

Daniel stood near the far wall with his back to the stairs.

He was opening something.

A long metal cabinet I had never seen before.

My first thought was that it must have been hidden behind the old shelves.

But the shelves were gone.

Everything down there had been rearranged.

Boxes were stacked neatly along one side of the room.