Page 5 of While They Watch

“Sure… but on the way out. Not on the way in. What if it’s something freaky? What if we find a dead body? You need to adopt some of my pessimism– it’ll keep you safe.” Luke hands me my underwear and I slip them back on before my hands are back on my hips, staring at him.

“But what if it’s some good ol’ mountain moonshine?” He says in some kind of incorrect and probably offensive accent. I continue to stare at him, shaking my head in fake disappointment.

“And now you want to blind me? There is a 0% chance I would drink some random liquid from, what I assume, will be a dirty, disgusting dungeon of a basement. Also, in your words, hidden. A HIDDEN, dirty, disgusting dungeon.” I keep staring at him, trying to look as serious as I can. He puts his hands on my shoulders and leans down to my eye level, amusement all over his face.

“Babe... you have got to live a little.” He grabs my hand and starts pulling me through the dining room to an area of the cabin I haven’t seen yet. My eyes are immediately drawn to a door that’s wide open. There is a small, dim light on in the dining room, just enough to be able to see the first few, weathered wooden stairs. The kind that you could break an ankle walking down, not level or even the same size, and they’re steep. They are also the type of stairs that turn sharply halfway, so I can't see all the way down. The walls are dirty and look like they have been repaired several times with random boards. Mismatched puzzle pieces with entire sections missing altogether, leaving a few dark holes that are almost tempting to reach into.

“Luke, did you seriously leave this door open last night? Isn’t it an unwritten rule to never leave a basement door open?” I ask, holding onto his hand a little tighter.

He laughs. “You are so cute when you’re paranoid. What do you think is going to happen with a door to an enclosed basement being open?”

“Listen, you have a track record. You already left the window in that creepy room upstairs open all night, letting some kind of raccoon or squirrel in. Don’t give me that look, I heard scratching and now… probably at least a few evil spirits from the basement.” I put as much angst into the last few words as I could, as I try to hide my amused smile. “But seriously, this already looks really scary. If I don’t fall down the stairs and injure myself then I’m…let me rephrase, WE will be walking away with, best case scenario, some light mold poisoning. Worst case scenario… possessed. You’re telling me it’s worth either of those risks?” I look over at him, attempting to stare some sense into his soul.

“There’s probably a water heater down there,” he adds. I let my arms fall to my side and groan before looking toward the basement again.

“You should have led with that.”

Chapter Five

I follow Luke down the stairs, paying extra close attention to each step down. The stairs are every bit as treacherous as I thought they would be. When I get to the bottom and look around, my eyes can barely take in all the details. The flickering light and cobwebs create an ambiance that makes the basement feel like a haunted house.

The space is packed tightly with old furniture and boxes, leaving barely enough room to walk around. Even the shelves are filled with old antiques that jut out at random spots making it feel like a dangerous maze. Everything is covered in layers of dust and I’m struggling to dodge the cobwebs hanging everywhere. The air smells old and wet, like every other basement I’ve been in, and the amount of clutter is starting to overwhelm my senses.

I feel crowded which causes me to start biting my fingernails and this time I don’t stop myself. Luke, on the other hand, marches right into the madness, making his way through the chaos like it’s his own. He is out of sight before I can ask him to wait. I don’t want to spend a moment alone down here, so I quickly chase after him, but I’m moving faster than I realize and run into him, almost knocking us both over.

“Sorry,” I whisper as I cling onto this arm.

“It’s fine. Why are you whispering?” He chuckles down at me.

“I don’t know. It’s spooky down here, and I’m pretty sure I destroyed at least a dozen spiderweb homes. I don’t want them to hear me and attack. Let’s find the water heater and get out of here.”

“Hold on, not yet. The door I was telling you about is right there,” he says as he points to the furthest wall and, sure enough, between two floor-to-ceiling bookshelves is a huge, dark, wooden door almost as tall as the ceiling itself. The part that jumps out to me first are the huge scratches and deep gashes that run down it. As I follow the scratch marks almost to the top of the door, I see a thick, sliding lock. The door is much larger than any other I’ve seen. In fact, as I look around, I see that this is a weirdly tall basement. I’m not an expert or anything but as I look at Luke and look at the door, it’s a lot taller than him and Luke isn’t a short guy. The height should make the basement feel big, but really, it just makes me feel uncomfortable, like I’m deeper in the earth than I should be.

“Luke, that is not hidden. It’s gigantic, and what’s with the lock being so high up? I think even you would need a step stool to reach it. What are they keeping in there? What if there’s a zombie person in there or some sort of deadly pathogen that’s been trapped for years…” I can hear myself rambling, but I can’t stop, not that it bothers him, as he ignores most of what I just said.

“You’re right. We need a ladder or something to step up on to get in there. There’s gotta be something down here. Help me look,” he says this like it's no big deal, like he isn’t losing his mind in real time. He pulls out his phone’s flashlight and starts looking through the different piles of junk.

“Are you kidding me? No way! I don’t want to go in there. It's probably locked for a reason. This was supposed to be relaxing and I’m feeling very much the opposite of relaxed.”

“What if it’s a dead body?” he says. I stare at him wide-eyed. “I’m not saying there is, but will you be able to sleep just two floors up with the potential that there could be? A moment of bravery could take all your anxieties away, because at least either way… we would know. Plus, if there is a dead body then maybe we’ll have solved some sort of cold case and will be heroes. You never know, these things happen.” Before I can decide if I want to argue or just follow along, he holds up a step stool. “Bingo!” I groan as I watch him not even hesitate before stepping up and unlocking the door.

It makes a horrible creak as he slowly pulls it open, followed by a rush of air with the same slightly sweet but rotten smell, like leaves decaying, only worse.

“Do you smell that? Oh my god… what if it IS a body, Luke?” I ask as I start to follow him through the huge door, stopping when I see how dark it is.

“Just wait here a second. I’ll try and find a light.” He walks in, shining his flashlight around and after a few minutes of him wandering around, I hear a snap, followed by the room illuminating. I reluctantly walk the rest of the way inside where I see Luke standing with his back to me, not moving but staring down at the floor.

Before I can figure out what to say, my eyes dart across the room, like they were drawn to the far side. All I see is… black. For some reason, I feel like I need to get closer to make sense of it, so I let my curiosity win and walk over. I think it’s maybe another room. There’s a giant, somewhat rounded doorway or hole of some sort that’s been dug into the wall. Which by itself is already confusing and horrifying but it’s also another area of the house that is so dark it feels like an abyss that’s pulling me in. I hold my hand out and it gets swallowed up by the blackness. I have a vision of something grabbing my hand and pulling me in, so I quickly pull my hand back to my side with a shiver. The smell is also much stronger over here–of course the creepy smell would be coming from the creepy black hole.

I take a step backward trying to get some distance from the intense stench when I see something next to the opening, barely visible in the low light. It’s a door, just the right shape to cover the dark hole in the wall. I grab the door handle, pulling it closed with a loud creak. I’m immediately relieved as some of the rancid smell tapers off and I feel like I can take full breaths again.

At face level there’s a small barred window, but because of the darkness, I can’t see anything through them. It actually somehow feels creepier now that my window of vision is so much smaller. I can almost imagine a hand reaching out and grabbing one of the metal bars.

I scan down the door, noticing there are various locks spaced along the edge of the door, everything from deadbolts to flimsy looking padlocks like someone stuck whatever locks they could find on here. Whoever made this must have really wanted to keep this room locked up tight… but why? What were they protecting? Or hiding from?

“Luke, bring your phone over here,” I call as I glance over to him. I start to get worried when I see that he hasn’t moved an inch. When he doesn’t answer me, I walk over. He’s looking at a pile of various kinds of clothing and shoes of all sizes. I bend down and pick up a shirt. When I shake it open, I see that it’s covered in some sort of dried substance and underneath it are dozens of tiny beetles crawling all over. I drop the shirt back onto the pile and let out a squeal. “Ew! Luke, what is this?”

My chaos seems to snap him out of whatever trance he was in, and he looks over at me. His eyes brighten up, and he smiles like nothing bizarre is happening.