After that there were no more sounds of cupboards opening and closing at night, but some other strange things started happening. Food randomly started going bad. They would open a can of soup only to be met with a horrible stench and find it had a thin film of mold growing across it's surface. They had a gallon of milk go sour that they had picked up just the day before. At one point, a can of tomatoes exploded, covering the inside of several shelves with red paste and resulting in everything needing to be taken off the shelf to be washed. Along with the food, the couple also found themselves waking up in the morning with bruises on their arms and legs.
One night while Mindy was at work, Jim was home watching TV. Suddenly there was a faint pop and the lights went out. Stupid breaker, grumbled Jim, as he walked to the kitchen to grab a flashlight. The cellar door swung open with a creak. Jim stood for a moment, then pointed the flashlight down at the steps and headed down. Approaching the fuse box, Jim stuck the flashlight under one arm so he could work. As he removed the panel covering the breaker box the flashlight slipped away. It hit the floor and went out. He was blinded by the darkness. He stood for a moment, listening as the flashlight rolled to a stop. Getting down on his knees, Jim felt around for the flashlight. His hand came to the the edge of an old sofa that they had been brought down to the celer to make more room upstairs. The flashlight had rolled too far underneath to reach.
Jim grumbled and stood up. He reached out for the wall and started to feel his way back to the stairs. His leg bumped the side of table that was lined up against the wall. He rubbed his leg and maneuvered around it. Suddenly there was another obstruction in his path. He reached out and touched something leathery. What the heck is this, Jim wondered, and what is that horrible smell. He brought his hand up to his mouth to try to block out the scent of rotten meat that had abruptly permeated the air around him. Then, the sound of a low growl made the hair on the back of his neck rise. He slowly stepped backward, his attention on the dark mass blocking his path. It began to move.
Jim watched in horror as whatever the thing was in front of him slowly stood up and turned to face him. He couldn't see a face, but he could feel it looking at him. It was huge, about twice the width as a man, and it seemed darker than all the blackness around it. He could see that it had long thin arms that reached almost to the ground, they slowly lifted in his direction. Jim's back touched the wall. He had nowhere to go. He couldn't think, all he could do was watch as it slowly got closer to him. He closed his eyes.
Jim? A voice called. Are you down there? He opened his eyes. The thing was gone. Mindy was at the top of the stairs, her flashlight illuminating the cellar. Jim didn't think twice. Released from his paralysis he bolted across the cellar and up the stairs, almost knocking Mindy over when he reached the top. He slammed the door shut behind him and said, we have to go, we need to get out of here. They drove to a neighbor's house and called the police. A group of armed officers and an animal control unit searched the house but found nothing. Jim couldn't explain it. Whatever was down there, he had touched it, it was real.
That night, Jim and Mindy slept at a nearby hotel. Shortly after they sold their house and moved away. Jim never found out what he had encountered that night but he felt sure that if Mindy hadn't shown up when she did, he would be dead.
***
Years later, Jim and Mindy were contacted by an investigator who was looking into the disappearance of someone who had moved into their old house. Jim told the investigator his story and about the other strange things that had happened while they were living there. The investigator looked startled and took out a photo. It was dark and blurry but Jim knew almost at once what it was. The photo had apparently been found on the phone belonging to the missing person.
No comments:
Post a Comment