The Secret Wall - S01 E06

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 6

Episode 6: The Secret Wall

The phone was small and black. It looked very expensive and very shiny. Amina held it in her hands, but she did not want to touch it. She held it like it was a poisonous snake. She felt that if she held it for too long, it might bite her. Her hands were shaking very much. The room was quiet, but her mind was very loud. She looked at the phone and saw the blue light. It was a tiny blue light that kept blinking. It was like a small eye looking at her in the dark. The light was a message notification. It was telling her that someone was trying to talk to the person who owned this phone. And that person was her husband, Joe.

Amina felt a cold wind in the room, even though the windows were closed. She stood in the middle of the living room. She looked at the secret hole in the wall. She looked at the mountain picture that was still swinging open like a door. Everything she thought she knew about her life was changing. She thought she was a happy wife. She thought Joe was a good man who liked to pray. But good men do not hide secret phones in brick walls. Good men do not have secret meetings at three o’clock in the morning. Amina knew she had to see what was inside the phone. She knew she had to know the truth. Even if the truth was scary, she had to find it.

She took a deep breath. She pressed the button on the side of the phone. She expected to see a password. She expected the phone to ask for a code or a secret pattern. But the phone did not ask for anything. The screen just lit up. It was a very bright light. It made Amina blink her eyes. The phone had no password. This was strange. Joe was usually very careful with his things. Why was this phone so easy to open? Maybe he thought no one would ever find it. Maybe he thought the wall was the best password in the world.

The first thing Amina saw on the screen was not a photo of her. It was not a photo of their family. It was just a black screen with a list of files. Amina looked at the list closely. They were all recordings. They were voice recordings. Each one had a name. The names were just dates and times. Amina looked at the dates. Every single recording was from midnight or very early in the morning. They were all from the times when Amina was supposed to be asleep. They were from the times when she heard the whispering and the clicking sounds.

Amina felt a stinging feeling in her eyes. She felt tears starting to grow. She did not want to cry, but she could not help it. She felt like her heart was being squeezed by a very strong hand. She looked at the most recent recording. It was from last night. It was the same night she heard Joe laughing at the wall. She reached out her finger. Her finger was trembling so much that she almost missed the screen. She pressed the play button.

The sound of the recording started. At first, there was only silence. Then, she heard the sound of someone breathing. It was a heavy sound. Then, she heard a voice. It was Joe’s voice. But it did not sound like the Joe she knew. The Joe she knew had a soft voice. He had a voice that was full of love and kindness. But the voice on the recording was different. It was cold. It was hard. It sounded like ice. It was a greedy voice.

Joe was talking to someone. He was talking to a man named Mr. Brown. Amina had never heard of a Mr. Brown before. Joe did not have a friend with that name.

"Yes, Mr. Brown," Joe said in the recording. "I am listening. The papers are almost ready. I have been working on them every night while she is asleep. She does not suspect a thing. She thinks I am just a very religious man. She thinks I am in here talking to God. She is so easy to fool."

Amina felt like she had been hit in the stomach. She felt sick. Joe was talking about her. He was calling her a fool. He was laughing at her behind her back. She listened as the recording continued. The man named Mr. Brown said something, but his voice was too low to hear. Then Joe spoke again.

"The house will be sold by next week," Joe said. His voice sounded very happy about this. "Once the house is sold, Amina will have nowhere to go. She has no money of her own. She has no family near here. She will realize the truth when it is too late. By the time she finds out the house is not ours anymore, I will be gone. I will take all the money from the sale. I will take everything from the bank accounts. I will leave the country before she even realizes what happened. I will start a new life where nobody knows me. I am tired of this life. I am tired of her."

Amina fell back onto the sofa. The phone was still in her hand. The recording ended with a click. She felt like the world was spinning around her. She looked at the walls of the house. This was her home. She had spent five years making it beautiful. She had painted the rooms. She had picked out the curtains. She had planted flowers in the garden. She thought this was the place where she would grow old with Joe. She thought they were building a life together. But Joe was not building a life. He was building a trap. He was planning to steal her home and her future.

She felt a big lump in her throat. The tears were falling down her face now. They were hot and salty. She felt so alone. The man she loved was a thief. The man she trusted was a liar. He was waiting for her to be homeless. He was waiting for her to be sad and hungry while he ran away with all their money. It was a very cruel plan. It was the kind of plan a monster would make. Amina looked at the wall. The bricks looked different now. They looked like the bars of a jail cell. She was trapped in a house that was being sold behind her back.

She thought about all the times Joe had been kind to her. She thought about the times he brought her flowers. She thought about the times he helped her when she was sick. Were those all lies too? Was he just pretending to be nice so she would not ask questions? Amina felt a deep anger starting to grow inside her. It was a small spark at first, but it was getting bigger. She was not just a fool. She was a woman who had been betrayed. She wanted to scream. She wanted to break the phone. She wanted to tear down the brick wall with her bare hands.

But she knew she had to stay quiet. Joe could come back at any time. He said he was meeting a friend, but now she knew that friend was Mr. Brown. They were probably talking about the papers right now. They were probably signing the documents that would take her house away. She had to think fast. She had to find a way to stop him. But how can a person stop a secret plan when they have no money and no help?

Amina looked at the phone again. She saw the list of other recordings. There were so many of them. There were recordings from months ago. This plan had been going on for a long time. Joe had been lying to her for a very long time. Every night when he went to the wall, he was talking to Mr. Brown. Every night, he was making his trap stronger.

She wondered who Mr. Brown was. Was he a lawyer? Was he a bad man who helped people steal houses? Amina did not know. But she knew that Joe was the leader. Joe was the one who was doing this to her. She looked at the blue light on the phone. It was still blinking. It was a very persistent light. It was like it was trying to tell her something else.

Amina felt a strange feeling. She felt like she was being watched. She looked around the room. The house was still empty. The gray clouds were still outside. But the air felt different. It felt like the secret was out, and the house was angry. She held the phone tighter. She wanted to call the police. She wanted to call a lawyer. But she did not know if she could trust anyone. If Joe could lie like this, anyone could lie.

She stood up from the sofa. She had to put the phone back. If Joe came home and saw her with the phone, she did not know what he would do. He had been so angry before. If he knew she heard the recording, he might hurt her. He was a man who was willing to leave his wife on the street. A man like that is very dangerous.

She walked toward the wall. Her legs were still shaking, but she forced herself to move. She reached out to put the phone back into the dark hole. She wanted to hide it just the way it was before. She would pretend she knew nothing. She would find her own plan. She would be the detective now.

But just as her hand reached the opening in the bricks, something happened.

The phone in her hand began to vibrate. It made a loud, buzzing sound. Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz! It was so sudden that Amina almost dropped it. The screen lit up with a very bright white light. There was a name on the screen.

It was Mr. Brown.

The phone was ringing. The man from the recording was calling the secret phone right now.

Amina froze. The sound of the ringing phone felt as loud as a siren in the quiet room. She did not know what to do. Should she answer it? Should she let it ring? If she did not answer, would Mr. Brown tell Joe? If she did answer, what would she say? Her heart was beating so fast that she could feel it in her neck.

The phone kept ringing. Ring! Ring! Ring! The blue light was gone, replaced by the flashing white screen. Amina looked at the door. She looked at the wall. She looked at the phone. She felt like she was standing on the edge of a very high cliff. One wrong move and she would fall.

The secret was calling her. And she had to decide if she was brave enough to pick up.

Why do you think Joe wants to leave Amina with nothing? Is it just for money, or is there another secret?

Who do you think Mr. Brown really is? Is he a friend, a boss, or a partner in crime?

Should Amina answer the phone and pretend to be Joe, or should she stay silent and put it back?

Now that Amina knows the truth, how can she save her house before next week?

The betrayal is real! Joe has a plan to ruin Amina's life, and Mr. Brown is calling right now! What will Amina do? You cannot miss Episode 7!