CHAPTER 2: THE TERRIFYING SECRET BENEATH THE FARM
Police immediately sealed off the cemetery.
Rumors spread through the village like wildfire.
Some believed grave robbers had stolen the body.
Others whispered about old family enemies.
But Thunder refused to leave.
The horse kept pacing nervously.
Every few minutes he neighed and pulled toward the road leading back to William's farm.
Finally, Sheriff Daniels made a decision.
"Follow the horse."
The villagers exchanged confused looks.
But they had no other clues.
Thunder began trotting down the dirt road.
Dozens of people followed.
When they reached the farm, the stallion headed straight toward an abandoned barn that William hadn't used in years.
The doors were locked.
Thunder kicked them repeatedly.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
The sheriff ordered his deputies to break them open.
Inside was darkness.
Dust.
Silence.
Then one deputy noticed something strange.
Fresh footprints.
Recent footprints.
Someone had been there.
Very recently.
Thunder suddenly ran to a corner of the barn and began stomping furiously.
The wooden floor shook.
The sheriff knelt down.
There was a hidden trapdoor.
Everyone stared.
Nobody knew what to expect.
Slowly, they opened it.
A narrow staircase descended underground.
The deputies drew their flashlights.
As they entered, a horrible smell filled the air.
At the bottom was a hidden room.
And inside that room...
A man sat tied to a chair.
Alive.
Barely conscious.
Covered in bruises.
The room exploded with screams.
It was William.
The dead farmer.
Still breathing.
Helen burst into tears.
Michael stood frozen in disbelief.
William opened his eyes weakly.
His lips trembled.
"They tried... to bury me alive..."
The entire room fell silent.
Sheriff Daniels leaned closer.
"Who did this?"
William struggled to speak.
Then he pointed toward the doorway.
Toward someone standing among the crowd.
Someone nobody had ever suspected.
Michael.
His own son.
The crowd gasped.
Helen screamed.
Michael's face instantly drained of color.
"No... that's impossible!"
But William's trembling voice shattered the silence.
"I heard everything..."
"They thought I was dead after the heart attack..."
"But I woke up..."
"And Michael didn't want me to wake up."
The horrifying truth finally emerged.
William had recently changed his will.
Instead of leaving everything to Michael, he planned to donate much of his fortune to charity and local farmers struggling to survive.
Michael had discovered the documents.
Consumed by greed, he had secretly imprisoned his father underground after the heart attack.
Then he arranged the funeral.
And if Thunder had not intervened...
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William would have disappeared forever.
Buried as a dead man while still alive.
