Have you ever wondered what might be hiding beneath an ordinary garage in a quiet neighborhood? Imagine the old concrete floor suddenly starting to emit dull thuds or barely audible noises. Most people would think it’s just pipes or shifting soil. Others might attribute it to rats and not think twice about it. But when a persistent neighbor living across the street began to notice that the noises occurred regularly, he wouldn’t rest until he called the police. Thus began the discovery of what no one had suspected for nearly three decades.

This story originates in a respectable and tranquil neighborhood where almost everyone knew each other. Here, in one of the most unremarkable houses, the lives of several individuals changed forever when the owner of a small sporting goods store suddenly vanished. Everyone assumed he had gone to Canada, but no one thought to check an old garage where later a secret room was found that had become a grim prison for the man who had disappeared without a trace many years ago.

Over two decades ago, there was a family business run by two brothers who lived next door to each other. The older brother was named Gregory and the younger Leon. They often fought but, on the surface, appeared to be a united team. Their father was from Europe, and their mother was born in the United States. The family followed moderately strict rules: no fighting, no public conflicts. However, beneath the apparent tranquility lay an old jealousy. Leon always felt that Gregory occupied the prime spot in their parents’ lives. The older son excelled academically, won awards, socialized with many people, and seemingly had no failures.

Leon tried not to show his irritation, but for years he accumulated a sense that no one noticed his efforts. At one point, the brothers decided to pool their savings and open a sports store. Gregory proposed buying quality products, establishing connections with suppliers, and expanding the inventory to cover the interests of running, swimming, and team sports enthusiasts. Leon tried to help, but his older brother was the one who shone with the initiative. Over time, acquaintances began calling the business “Gregory & Leon’s Store,” and for some reason, the older brother’s name always came first.

Only a few realized that most of the financial investment came from Leon, who sold the land he had inherited and invested almost all his money into the business. However, Gregory was in the spotlight, often talking to customers, meeting with representatives from sports clubs, and pretending that his contribution was decisive. Leon endured it all, trying to control his feelings, but the differences intensified, and a conflict arose between the brothers that prevented them from speaking sincerely.

It took a long time for Leon to feel that his patience was wearing thin. Eventually, the sports store began generating stable income, and Gregory announced his desire to expand. He started looking for a location for a second store and even planned a small warehouse. Leon pointed out the risks. They hadn’t accumulated enough reserves, but Gregory seemed intent on proving to everyone that he could do more. Leon doubted it would be profitable, as the market was saturated with competitors. But Gregory insisted on negotiating with the bank and secured a loan. A month later, the brothers were reviewing documents to rent a space in the neighboring city. However, Leon’s name was hardly mentioned in the contracts.

During this period, many began to notice that Leon was becoming increasingly withdrawn. He joked less frequently and often absented himself. Gregory found his behavior strange, but he didn’t have time to delve into it. Their parents had died long ago, and no one could mediate the family disputes. The older brother thought Leon simply didn’t want to take risks, that he was used to clinging to what he had and feared change. Sometimes Gregory would tell him that if his younger brother didn’t support the initiative, he might as well think about his future separately.

It seemed that the conflicts had reached a boiling point when one day, Gregory vanished. It was 1984, and Leon informed all his friends and acquaintances that his older brother had gone to Canada for business and decided to stay there for a long time. He said that Gregory had new partners and ambitions. People believed him because Gregory had always been quite active and was no stranger to risky decisions. However, he had not really left the country.

A few months after his departure, Gregory failed to send letters or make phone calls, and Leon roamed the neighborhood explaining to those he knew that his brother was completely immersed in his new projects. Neighbors found it odd that they had not received a single postcard during the holidays. Leon claimed that it was difficult to send mail from another country, that he was very busy with work, and offered other excuses. Years passed, and people grew accustomed to Gregory’s absence. Leon continued running the store under the same name and occasionally pretended to talk to his older brother, saying he sent his regards to everyone. However, many noticed that Leon became less communicative over time. He sometimes seemed nervous and rarely spoke to anyone outside of work meetings.

The store gradually lost its former fame. Leon fired several employees and reduced the product list. It seemed he lacked the energy that Gregory had once provided. The younger brother was forced to sell some assets to pay off loans. However, he didn’t want to part with the family home and the adjacent garage, which had once become a small workshop. Leon kept some tools, old boxes, and unused equipment that had been left over from when the brothers planned to expand the business. No one paid much attention to that garage because it looked ordinary, with old doors, cracked paint, and brown paneling on the walls. Over time, that unremarkable building became the greatest mystery of recent years.

More than 20 years have passed. The townspeople changed; some moved away, others arrived. The topic of Gregory’s disappearance gradually became something distant, as few were interested in past events unless they directly affected economic or social aspects. Leon remained there, though he didn’t seem happy. He tried not to talk about the past. In those days, only an old man named Nick, who lived across the street, continued to show curiosity. Nick remembered Gregory as a bright and smiling man and couldn’t understand how he could leave everything behind and disappear forever without maintaining any contact, even with his closest friends.

Nick would sometimes approach Leon, bringing up the past, but Leon always changed the subject. Time passed, and then one day, Nick accidentally noticed that strange thuds could be heard near Leon’s garage at night. At first, he thought it was the creaking of a door or that something had fallen, but the sounds were repetitive, as if someone were banging something hard against the floor inside. Nick couldn’t find another explanation, except that perhaps large rodents had made their home in the foundations. However, he began to notice a pattern. The noises occurred at approximately the same time each night.

He was also alarmed by the fact that Leon wouldn’t let anyone into the garage, not even his cousin, who once needed a tool. Leon responded brusquely, “Don’t touch anything in my garage. It’s locked, and there are no spare keys.” One night, while walking, Nick heard a louder-than-usual thud and decided to peek through the fence. He couldn’t see anything, but it seemed to him that the garage door was vibrating. It was as if a shockwave was emanating from within.

He thought there might be a generator or an old ventilation system in the garage. However, it was strange because the external noises were thuds, not the clinking of metal pieces. Nick mentioned it to his son, but he just laughed, saying that Leon probably had a bunch of old junk that could make noise with any movement. But Nick’s curiosity didn’t wane. He waited for Leon to leave and approached the door. There was a secure lock on the door, and the windows were boarded up from the inside. There was no way to get in.

Before long, Nick decided to place a small recorder by the window of his house that faced the garage. He set the device to capture any sounds during the hours when the thuds were usually heard. It was important to check if there was any connection between that noise and Leon’s presence at home. Nick collected recordings for about a week and listened to them with headphones. He heard periodic, clear thuds late at night. Sometimes it seemed that after the thuds, a faint voice or moan could be heard, but the recording was too weak and muffled to understand the words.

Nick decided not to take any risks and to try entering someone else’s property. He called the police and handed over the recordings. They took it with skepticism but sent an officer to inspect the place. That day, Leon was home, and when the officer approached the garage and asked for permission to inspect it, Leon refused. Citing the sanctity of private property, he claimed there was nothing more than his personal belongings inside. The officers had no choice but to leave. Nick didn’t know what to do and decided to back off for the moment. But rumors that strange noises were coming from Leon’s garage began to spread throughout the neighborhood.

A few days later, someone in the area called the station and expressed concern that there might be illegal immigrants in the garage or that Leon might be manufacturing some illegal substance there. The information was vague but sufficient to obtain a search warrant. When the police arrived with the official documents, Leon lost his nerve. He started shouting that it was private property, that they were setting him up, and pointed at his neighbor, claiming that Nick was trying to get him into trouble on purpose. But he could no longer resist a legal order.

So they entered the garage together. At first, the police found nothing but old boxes, broken shelves, and other junk covering the floor with layers of dust. However, one of the officers noticed that the concrete slab covering part of the floor had a noticeably different structure and color from the rest of the surface. It looked as if repairs had been made or something similar, trying to hide the traces. The officers began checking the solidity of the area with a mallet. A dull sound echoed, and it became clear that there was a hollow space beneath the concrete layer.

As the officers inspected the area, Leon visibly paled and tried to say it was an old pit for inspecting cars, but no one took him seriously. They broke through the concrete layer and discovered a metal door with a locking mechanism that could only be opened from the outside. When the police removed the lock, stale air escaped, and they heard a weak voice coming from somewhere below. Everyone in the garage was left in shock. Inside was a narrow room with a low ceiling, brick walls, an old, twisted bed, a bucket, remnants of moldy food in plastic containers, and several chain rings bolted to the wall.

In one corner sat a man with a long, unkempt beard and a vacant gaze. His clothes looked like rags that he probably hadn’t changed in years. He seemed barely aware of what was happening. The police immediately called for medical services and tried to talk to him. He murmured something with a fearful expression on his face, and his speech was sprinkled with incomprehensible words, as if he hadn’t spoken normally in a long time.

The first thing the officers did upon seeing that the man was alive was to ask Leon what was going on. At first, he refused to talk and then asked for a lawyer. The police had only time to detain him as a precautionary measure to clarify the circumstances. The man with the tangled beard was taken out on a stretcher, shaking his head and clenching his fists as if he feared being returned and locked away in the dark again. When the paramedics tried to ask him questions, he only repeated, “Gregory, my name is Gregory,” and then began to cry.

That was how the world learned that the man everyone believed had fled to Canada had spent all those years in a basement beneath a garage. Investigators began reconstructing the chain of events. There was little information. The only clear fact was that Gregory had disappeared in 1984 and that Leon had claimed his older brother had left, but now it was clear that Leon had built a special room in the garage or renovated the basement, which could have once been a simple pit for inspecting cars.

Some evidence suggested that it had initially been a normal inspection pit but had later been deepened and expanded, bricked over, and equipped with a kind of sealed chamber. The door was covered with a thin layer of fresh concrete poured in such a way that it appeared the floor was a single piece. In this room, there was a ventilation duct blocked from the street with a stone that allowed air to enter.

Soon, during Leon’s interrogation, it was discovered that he had gradually gathered materials for the camouflage and had done it all himself without anyone’s help, explaining at the hardware store that he was renovating the basement. Everyone tried to understand the main motive—why Leon needed to keep his own brother locked up. Initially, there were various conjectures. Perhaps it was debts, envy, family enmity.

Soon, Leon’s confessions clarified many things. He harbored a long-standing grudge against Gregory since his older brother always captured the family’s attention in business and among their circle of friends. Leon felt he contributed his share to the business, but all the successes were attributed to the elder brother. When Gregory insisted on expanding the business and Leon found himself in debt due to the loans, the tension reached its peak. According to Leon’s later account, one day he called Gregory to the garage under the pretext of needing to move a heavy shelf. The older brother suspected nothing. When he went down into the pit, Leon struck him with a board and tied him up, then began to execute his plan.

He blocked the exit, creating an invisible trap. He intended to teach Gregory a lesson so that he would know what it felt like to be in a no-exit situation. Then, when he realized the monstrosity of what he had done, Leon found himself unable to turn back. He told the police that at first he thought he would hold Gregory for a short time, but at some point, he realized that his crime was too great and the fear of being discovered too strong.

Years passed, and thus it continued for decades. The question remained of how Gregory had survived all that time. In the place, a water reservoir was found, several filters that Leon changed secretly. Food was regularly brought down to the secret room, but in very limited quantities, through a camouflaged hole. Occasionally, Leon would ventilate the room or slightly open the hatch cover, although he didn’t do it often for fear that someone might accidentally hear strange noises.

Gregory remained chained or tied to the wall and could only move occasionally within the small space. All of this left a profound mark on his mental state. When experts inspected the room, they found traces of Gregory’s attempts to escape over many years. Nail marks, deep scratches, and broken fragments in the bricks. It was evident that he hadn’t lost hope of finding a way out or that someone would hear his screams, but it turned out that the garage was relatively far from neighboring houses, and moreover, it was a time when no one paid much attention to minor noises.

Gregory, upon arriving at the hospital, took a long time to articulate a coherent sentence. He had almost forgotten how to communicate normally. Medical staff did everything possible to support him. Psychologists and psychiatrists visited him regularly to try to understand the state of a man who had spent so many years in isolation. Once, in the presence of the officers, he managed to say that on the day Leon lured him into the garage, he suspected nothing wrong. Gregory believed that it was time for them to talk about business and trusted that they could reconcile if they reached an agreement.

He remembered waking up in total darkness, surrounded only by a concrete cell and metal rings on the wall. Days passed, and Gregory thought Leon would come to his senses and let him go, but that didn’t happen. He then lost track of the days, weeks, and months. It seemed to him that time had stopped. Gregory recounted that during the moments when Leon came down with food, he begged to be set free. He pleaded, implored, or conversely, insulted him. But Leon always closed the hatch and left. Little by little, Gregory lost track of what year it was and sank into despair.

Doctors observed that despite the terrible conditions, Gregory tried to stay fit in some way. Several times a week, he did very simple exercises to prevent his muscles from completely atrophying. However, he weakened significantly, and his speech lost clarity. The diet was extremely scant, and during a medical examination, it was discovered that Gregory had a severe deficiency of vitamins and minerals. The doctors administered vitamins for a long time, and psychologists worked to help him regain even the most basic communication skills.

This case shocked the entire neighborhood. Many residents couldn’t believe that something like this had happened literally under their noses. Nick, the neighbor who initially suspected something, later told reporters that he hadn’t expected to discover such a terrible truth behind all that noise. He said he had tried to explain the sounds logically dozens of times but would never have thought that beneath the concrete slab of the garage there could be a cell for a prisoner.

People began to mentally review the events of years ago, recalling that Leon had talked about business in Canada, about fabricated calls from Gregory, and wondered how such a deception could last so long. The investigation was conducted quite rapidly because there was more than enough evidence. Leon confessed to his guilt, although at first, he only said he wanted to teach his brother a lesson, not imagining that it would drag on for so long. But the facts spoke for themselves. He had intentionally kept Gregory in the basement. He had fed him so that he wouldn’t die and regularly checked that the hiding place remained invisible.

The police found receipts for the purchase of construction materials and special locks. Letters that Gregory had tried to write on scraps of paper and slip under the door were also found, but Leon collected and destroyed them. Later, these scraps of paper were discovered in a remote corner of the garage beneath some old boxes. The trial became a sensational event. Leon didn’t appear as an enraged villain during the trial but rather as a man consumed by his own resentments and the horror of what he had done. However, no one rushed to sympathize with him.

When Gregory had the opportunity to speak in court, he tried to say a few words, but his voice trembled, and his speech sounded weak and insecure. He said he still didn’t understand how his own brother could do this to him and that he didn’t feel guilty about what once made him proud. Gregory only wanted his business to thrive, as he saw it as an opportunity for Leon to secure his future. But apparently, Leon had interpreted it differently.

The prosecutor emphasized that Leon’s crime had been extremely cruel, as he had deprived a man of his freedom for many years and subjected him to torture in inhuman conditions. Leon’s attorney tried to argue mental disorder due to the pressure and jealousy he had suffered for many years, but the sentence was severe. Leon faced a long prison term. When the sentence was pronounced, the judge paid special attention to the fact that the mistreatment lasted for many years and that Leon had many opportunities to stop and release Gregory, but each time he consciously continued.

In his defense speech, Leon said that at some point, he realized he couldn’t free Gregory because he would immediately go to the police, and Leon’s life would be over. According to him, the fear of punishment became stronger than compassion for his brother. He began to worry solely about the crime not coming to light and strained to make the hiding place as discreet as possible. Thus, years passed, and Leon lived with a terrible secret without having the courage to put an end to that madness. However, he never said he regretted it; he only lamented that things had gone so far.

This statement was heard in court, provoking public outrage, as it was evident that such a crime doesn’t begin on its own and doesn’t continue by anyone’s will except the perpetrator’s personal will. After the trial, Gregory was sent to long-term rehabilitation. Doctors and psychologists noted that it could take years for him to readapt to normal life. His body was weakened, his immune system destroyed, and his psyche had suffered greatly.

In the hospital room, he often woke up at night screaming that he was back in the basement and couldn’t get out. His neighbors and friends, who had considered him missing for a long time, tried to help him as much as they could. In the city, volunteer groups were organized to bring him clothes and food and also to help cover his medical expenses. Journalists attempted to interview Gregory, but the doctors recommended giving him time. The police, for their part, concluded the investigation, presented the materials to the prosecutor’s office, and the court finally imposed a long prison sentence on Leon.

After some time, curious citizens tried to enter the garage to see the place where such a terrible secret had been hidden for so many years. But the property was sealed off. The house and garage became state property, as Leon lost his rights to ownership, and Gregory was recognized as the official heir. However, he needed complete rehabilitation treatment and could not deal with those matters at that time.

The municipal authorities, aware of the impact this story had made, hurried to process all the paperwork to sell or demolish the building that had now acquired a sinister reputation. Neighbors debated for a long time that it was unlikely anyone would want to live in a house that had housed a secret hideout. But over time, the attention toward the place gradually faded, leaving only videos, photographs, and archived notes from journalists.

The story of the missing man who lived for many years in an underground dungeon also sparked interest outside the region. Several television channels produced reports detailing the story of the two brothers, their joint business, and how one of them committed an act of inconceivable cruelty out of envy and jealousy. In these programs, psychology experts explained that prolonged resentment, combined with personal insecurity and feelings of insignificance, can have tragic consequences if help isn’t sought in time or if professionals aren’t consulted. However, even these explanations did not mitigate the cruelty of the act itself, as not everyone, upon feeling they have experienced an injustice, resorts to kidnapping and imprisoning their brother for so long.

Amid the uproar surrounding the case, Gregory slowly began to recover. He was provided with a special physiotherapy course to regain joint mobility and muscle strength. He spent a lot of time outdoors. At first, he struggled to leave the room, as the large open spaces terrified him, as if he had become accustomed to the narrowness of his cell. Specialists explained that Gregory might be suffering from a syndrome similar to that experienced by people who, after spending a long time in a confined space, are unable to quickly adapt to the normal scale of everyday life.

Doctors and psychologists taught him to trust his surroundings again, to not fear loud noises or sudden movements. They had to patiently explain that no one would ever lock him up again. Gregory tried to remember what his life was like before the kidnapping, but his last normal memories dated back to 1984, when he still thought that the business with his brother would go well and that they both had a promising future ahead. Now he woke up in a completely different world where mobile phones, the internet, and electronic payments had become the norm.

He was astonished that people used small devices to talk over any distance, that hardly anyone wrote letters anymore, and that society had made a significant technological leap. He needed special courses to master modern technology and understand how to buy products with plastic cards or use an ATM. Neighbors, who remembered him as young and energetic, now saw a gray-haired and haggard man. For his age, he wasn’t old, but the trials he had gone through had added decades to him.

The police attempted several times to speak with Gregory to gather more details about how Leon had fed him and supplied him with water, what the conditions had been like during the first days of captivity, and what had happened during the various periods of confinement. But Gregory didn’t want to go into details. He said he didn’t want to relive it all. The doctor recommended leaving him alone and not pressing him with questions, as Gregory’s psyche was on the edge.

When the case materials were finally gathered, the judges concluded that no mitigating factors could justify Leon. He was given a prison sentence that corresponded to the maximum penalty for such a crime. In his final statements, Leon insisted that his older brother always took everything from him and pointed to the years of accumulated discontent and disdain. He also claimed that he didn’t cause fatal harm to Gregory but merely provided him with food and water. These arguments only served to underline that he had deliberately kept Gregory in conditions of captivity.

The press covered the trial details, and people discussed on social media how it was possible for a brother to do something like this. Some blamed their parents for not noticing the tension and inadvertently giving rise to the rivalry. Others believed that Leon should have dealt with his envy and aggression before it reached an extreme point. But the fact remained. He had committed a barbaric act, and Gregory would have to rebuild his life.

Some time passed after the trial, and the city calmed down. The new owner of the old store that the brothers had opened changed the name and renovated the building. People tried to forget all the horrors associated with this family matter, but some still remembered. “Do you remember Gregory? He used to be a cheerful, sociable man.” Neighbors hoped that in the future he would find the strength to recover his health, start working, or engage in some activity that would restore his self-confidence.

Gregory spent many more months under the supervision of specialists before he could cautiously communicate with journalists. He shared that he tried to scribble on the walls of his cell to maintain his sanity. Sometimes, when Leon brought him water, he would ask for paper and a pen, but most of the time he only received silence or a brief, rude response.

Thus, Gregory lost touch with reality, without a clock to measure time, without seeing sunlight, and without knowing what month it was. He begged his brother to tell him how many days had passed, but Leon would gesture with his hand and sometimes even get angry. Gregory spent 26 years captive, as investigators later calculated. He was found after a neighbor heard strange thuds and called the police. Doctors said that if circumstances had been different by even a year, Gregory might not have been able to bang on the walls or make noise, having lost his last strength.

Leon eventually confessed that he had begun to give Gregory less food and water because he feared Gregory would make noise and the neighbors would hear him. He limited visits and tried to make less noise when opening the hatch, but Gregory, hungry and exhausted, continued to bang. It was his last hope—sending any signal to the outside world. The tragedy, which became widely known, lingered in the city’s memory for a long time. Local journalists occasionally wrote articles about Gregory’s fate, reporting that he was receiving therapy and beginning to speak a little, that sometimes he went for walks with a volunteer who helped him adjust to life without bars or concrete walls.

People who sympathized with him tried to offer as much support as possible. Some even offered him jobs, knowing that Gregory couldn’t immediately return to a full life. He found it very difficult to orient himself in the current reality. He struggled to understand that many things he was accustomed to had become obsolete and that new technologies had taken over. Moreover, he found it difficult to relate to people. Sometimes he flinched at ordinary sounds, like the loud bang of a door or a harsh voice. But despite this, he tried not to completely shut himself off. According to one of the doctors, Gregory demonstrated great willpower, as he had managed to keep alive within him the desire to survive. He tried to speak loudly so as not to completely lose his ability to communicate.

He noted a makeshift calendar on the wall of his cell, trying to keep track of time, even if it was approximate. However, 26 years is a long time for anyone, and especially for a brother who believed in the strength of family ties. A long road awaited him to forget the horror of his imprisonment and to believe that there were still people in the world capable of helping and not betraying. The police stated that a case like this was uncommon, and the officers who first descended into the basement said they could never erase from their memory the appearance of Gregory when they found him.

People are used to seeing scenes like this only in movies. Reality turned out to be more terrifying and grim. Nick, the neighbor, confessed that he would probably wake up every night for the rest of his days thinking, “What if I hadn’t paid attention to those noises? What if I had decided it was just the wind or rats? Perhaps Gregory would have remained in that concrete cell forever.” Thanks to his vigilance, Gregory had a chance to save himself. During the investigation and trial, more details emerged.

It was discovered that Leon had manipulated Gregory’s family and friends, telling them tales about life in Canada and creating a legend about his older brother’s successes and adventures across the ocean. When people asked why Gregory hadn’t been in touch, Leon made up excuses. He said Gregory had traveled north, that the postal service was poor there, that he had then gone on a trip west, where there was no access to phones, and that the internet wasn’t well developed yet. These stories worked because people had no reason to doubt the veracity of the younger brother’s words. Moreover, very little time had passed, and many stopped worrying about other people’s problems. Each had their own concerns and changes.

The composition of the city changed. Many left. Those who stayed somehow grew accustomed to the idea that Gregory had been gone for a long time. Knowing his energetic character, it didn’t seem impossible. Thus, Leon knew how to take advantage of the general distraction while continuing to keep Gregory in a cramped basement. Sometimes Leon would hide food for his brother in his pockets so that none of his acquaintances or coworkers would notice the large quantities of food. He shopped in small amounts at different stores to avoid drawing attention.

Years passed, and still, he managed to bring the situation to a deep crisis. The store was sinking, debts were growing, and his life had become an endless lie. It seemed that Leon had completely submerged himself in his distorted sense of justice, convincing himself that Gregory deserved this punishment for all the previous grievances. When the sentence was pronounced, journalists interviewed several psychologists. They suggested that Leon was extremely dependent on comparisons with his more successful brother and had developed a pathological form of jealousy bordering on persecution.

He convinced himself that Gregory would eventually take away his last chance for recognition or even deceive him entirely. Instead of learning to talk about his problems or seeking professional help, Leon chose the path of violence, and it was precisely this combination of resentment and fear of punishment that kept Gregory captive for so long. Every time Leon realized that he could still stop everything, his terror of what awaited him afterward only grew, forcing him to continue with that cruel madness.

The circumstances of this story were enveloped in rumors and speculation, but the essence remained unchanged. Gregory was innocent, a victim of his own brother’s actions, whom he had once supported and helped to progress in the family business. A few thuds heard by chance beneath the old concrete were the key to solving a crime that seemed to have fallen into oblivion.

Today, if you pass through that area, you will see that the garage has been closed for a long time and that the entrance to the basement has been sealed. No one wants to turn this place into a curiosity attraction. According to the latest news, Gregory lives in another city, closer to a specialized clinic, where he has been provided with a cozy accommodation with psychological support available 24/7. He rarely gives signs of life to strangers, preferring to recover in silence.

Human envy can take unpredictable forms, and the story of Gregory and Leon is a horrifying example of it. Once, the two brothers rejoiced together at their future successes, but it all ended with decades of captivity and shattered destinies. If it hadn’t been for a neighbor’s attention, Gregory would likely have died alone. The story could have ended there, but fate had other plans, giving him a chance to return to life and forcing Leon to answer to the full extent of the law.

There is no moral at the end, only reality, where the victim begins anew, and the one who considered himself unjustly treated and underestimated goes to prison, carrying the weight of the crime committed.