📖 Chapter 7: The Basement
339 Words
I threw myself backward just as the pale hand slammed against the floor where my face had been.
The ceiling cracked open above me, sending dust and broken wood everywhere.
And then I saw it.
The thing crawled halfway out of the hole in the ceiling, its limbs bending in impossible directions. Its skin was pale gray, stretched tightly over a body that looked too thin to be alive.
But its face—
It still had my face.
Only now the smile was wider.
Wider than humanly possible.
“Why are you running?” it asked softly.
My voice.
Again.
I scrambled to my feet and ran down the hallway as the creature pulled itself from the ceiling behind me with loud cracking sounds.
The house shook with every movement it made.
I reached the stairs and nearly fell as I rushed down them.
The front door was gone.
Not locked.
Gone.
Only an empty wall stood where the exit should have been.
“No…” I whispered.
The laughter returned.
Closer this time.
The lights above me flickered violently.
On.
Off.
On.
Off.
And during each second of darkness, the creature appeared closer.
Standing at the bottom of the stairs.
Then near the hallway.
Then right behind me.
I could feel its cold breath touching my neck.
I ran blindly through the house until I slammed into another door hidden behind old furniture.
A basement door.
Without thinking, I grabbed the handle and pulled it open.
A horrible smell rose from below.
Rotten.
Wet.
Old.
But the creature was coming.
I hurried down the basement stairs and slammed the door shut behind me.
Darkness swallowed everything.
For a few seconds, I heard only my own breathing.
Then—
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Three slow knocks came from the other side of the basement door.
I backed away carefully.
Something moved in the darkness behind me.
A weak voice whispered:
“Don’t turn around.”
My body froze.
Because this voice…
didn’t sound like the creature.
It sounded like Linh.
- Writer
