Underneath

3 Years ago, before the incident:

It was like something out of an old movie, I thought to myself as I uncovered the secret hatch and stared down the deep, dark hole, only it was real.

Was it a secret shelter built during World War II? Was it a hidden way to the underworld? Or was it another sewer entrance? Whatever it was, I was about to find out. I firmly grasped the top rung of the ladder and went down.

A few seconds into the climb, I could see an unusual glow. I continued going down with little clue on what I was about to encounter. I finally reached the bottom of the ladder and saw it was not what I was expecting. It was a big room full of books; older books that I haven't heard of. Well, most of them anyway. There were a few books that had been mentioned during my English lessons.

I continued walking through and looked for a way up other than the ladder, but to my dismay there wasn't any other way.

"Maybe there's a secret door in the bookshelves, like in the movies." I said to myself, so I pulled down each and every book in the room to look for a disguised lever. I kept going through when I found the lever, disguised as a copy of The Road: a classic novel I read when it released twenty or so years ago. I saw the bookshelf open up right next to me, revealing a long corridor, which most likely leads to another room. I grabbed one of the torches, as my phone was out of charge since I got down here, and walked through.

When I finally got to the other side, I saw a wooden door, off its rusty hinges from how old the door looks.

"I've gone too far to turn back." I said as I opened the door and walked through.

When I entered, I saw a candlelit room, full of drawings. I looked at the far back wall and saw something written in red:

Don't trust the tall man or-

The rest was covered up by some red liquid-like substance. I looked around a bit more, when I found a note on the ground. It read:

Don't help the tall man out.

Don't follow what instructions given by the tall man

Most importantly: don't listen to what the tall man says, no matter what.

I continued to look around the room, when my name was called back at the entrance.

"Marshal, are you down here?" They sounded like my friend, Martie, but didn't want to say anything in case they were someone else. Someone part of the cult that owns the underground place, possibly. I couldn't hear anything after that. I quickly got back to the ladder, climbed up, got out of the hole and closed the lid.

There was a secret inside Grand Central that I had found out. And it was the biggest mistake of my life.

I started to walk off from the hatch and out of the entrance, where I was greeted by a mysterious man.

"Excuse me, but can you tell me how to get to Central Park?" He asked politely as he held out a map

"Sure." I said as I grabbed the map and showed the directions.

"You need to go right on 5th Avenue and keep going down that road. You will see Central Park at the end of-"

He had disappeared when I looked up. I stood there for a while before I heard my voice once more.

"There you are, Marshal." Martie said as he approached, "I've been looking for you. We're about head back home."

I folded the map and put it into my pocket. We then went inside Grand Central and down to the subway.