Don't You Know About The Basement? P.1

Everyone who sat at the table had dark red eyes that stared blankly at the table. Jake knew something was wrong, something very serious and something that was making tonight's event extraordinarily tense, but what was it? Their faces told him that they had been crying but their expressions told him nothing.
'Can someone tell me what is going on around here?' he said, instantly realising that his tone was far to harsh for his surroundings.

Silence. Everyone sat at their places in the extravagant dining hall with the same faces they had when he had entered.
He took one last glance around the room and then picked up his knife and fork and began to eat his meal.
'No point in letting our food get cold.' he mumbled.

He was just about to put a cut of lamb in his mouth when he heard an elderly man in a neat suit and a red bow tie speak.
'Don't you know about the basement?' he said in a hushed tone, as he scrunched his face up, almost as if the words were painful to say.
'The Basement?' jake asked.

Just then the elderly man broke out into tears. He grabbed his napkin and began to wipe his eyes furiously, but before jake could ask what was wrong a well build man in an equally expensive looking suit to the one jake wore strode in and grabbed the elderly man by the arm.

'Please, no! It is not my time!' he called as he was hauled out of the huge oak doors. 'Please, help!'

But no one lifted a finger. They just sat their with their emotionless expressions.