Part 2 – The Name Buried Beneath the Earth
Eric's military instincts took over before his emotions could.
He gently carried Emma away from the hole, wrapping her tighter inside his jacket. She buried her face against his shoulder, her tiny fingers clutching his shirt so tightly they hurt.
"It's okay," he whispered.
"No one is ever putting you back in there."
Emma nodded but refused to let go.
Eric looked toward the farmhouse.
Myrtle Savage was standing on the porch.
She hadn't moved.
She simply watched.
No panic.
No surprise.
Almost...
...expectation.
Eric slowly walked toward her.
"You called Brenda before I even arrived."
Myrtle folded her arms.
"I knew she'd tell you."
"You knew I'd find my daughter buried in a hole?"
"It wasn't buried."
"It was discipline."
Eric stopped three feet away.
"What did you just say?"
"The world has become soft."
She spoke calmly.
"Children must learn obedience."
"Emma lied."
"She disobeyed."
"So I gave her a lesson she'll never forget."
Eric stared at her.
"You made a seven-year-old stand inside a grave."
"It teaches humility."
He had faced enemy soldiers.
He had been shot at.
He had watched friends die.
Yet nothing in Afghanistan had prepared him for standing across from someone who could say those words without blinking.
Then Myrtle smiled.
"You military men understand discipline."
Eric's voice became frighteningly quiet.
"No."
"I understand abuse."
Behind him, Emma suddenly whispered,
"Daddy..."
"The other girl..."
Eric knelt beside her.
"What other girl?"
Emma looked toward the second pit.
"The one Grandma talks to."
Eric felt cold.
"What do you mean?"
"At night she says..."
"...I'm sorry, Sarah."
"...I couldn't save you."
Eric looked back at the covered hole.
His heartbeat accelerated.
He immediately dialed 911.
"My name is Sergeant Eric McKenzie."
"I've found what appears to be human remains on private property."
"I have a child victim who needs immediate medical attention."
Within twenty minutes, sheriff's deputies flooded the property.
Crime scene tape surrounded the backyard.
Detectives photographed every inch.
Then forensic specialists carefully began excavating the second grave.
Nobody spoke.
The silence was unbearable.
Finally...
One investigator climbed out holding a small rusted pendant.
Inside was a faded school picture.
A smiling little Asian girl.
Around eight years old.
The sheriff quietly read the inscription.
"Sarah Chun."
His face changed.
"Oh my God..."
One deputy looked up.
"I remember this."
"Twenty-one years ago."
"Little girl disappeared from Pine Creek Elementary."
"They searched these woods for months."
"They never found her."
Eric slowly looked toward Myrtle.
She was no longer calm.
Her hands were shaking.
"No..."
she whispered.
"No..."
"I told you..."
"I told everyone it wasn't my fault."
The sheriff immediately placed her in handcuffs.
"You have the right to remain silent."
Myrtle suddenly screamed.
"I DIDN'T KILL HER!"
"I WAS TRYING TO SAVE HER!"
Everyone froze.
The sheriff slowly turned back.
"What did you say?"
Myrtle burst into tears.
"It wasn't supposed to happen..."
Hours later, detectives uncovered the truth.
Twenty-one years earlier, Myrtle had operated an unofficial wilderness camp for troubled children.
Parents paid her to "fix" difficult kids using harsh survival techniques.
Sarah Chun had been one of them.
One cold October night...
Sarah tried running away.
Myrtle forced her into a shallow punishment pit.
She intended to leave her there for one hour.
Instead...
She forgot.
She drank.
She fell asleep.
By morning...
Sarah had died from hypothermia.
Terrified of prison, Myrtle buried the body herself.
Then she convinced everyone Sarah had escaped into the mountains.
For twenty-one years...
No one questioned her story.
Until Emma.
Emma had unknowingly wandered too close to the old burial site while playing.
She had found Sarah's pendant.
Myrtle panicked.
She feared the child might expose everything.
So she began terrifying Emma into silence.
"If you tell anyone..."
"You'll sleep beside Sarah forever."
Emma believed her.
She was only seven.
Eric held his daughter tighter than ever.
No child should ever carry fear like that.
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But there was still one question haunting him.
Where had Brenda been through all this?
