From Below

I sat there in the silent darkness. Awoken by a noise of unknown origin. I listened. There it was! The creak of floorboards being tread upon. 

Wearing only my pajamas I got out of bed to investigate. Grabbing the flashlight I paused at the bedroom door to listen again. I could hear the creaking floorboards coming from the end of the hallway to my right. Opening the door as silently as I could I jumped out and shone the flashlight. Nothing. I turned around to illuminate the other end of the hallway to reveal nothing.

I then conducted a room by room search of the house beginning with the second floor and moving down through the main floor. I checked the front and back doors to ensure they were still locked. After verifying the security of both doors I stood in the kitchen and turned to face the basement door.

The latch was still secure as I had left it earlier. Undoing the latch I opened the door and made my way down into the dark abyss. The basement had no windows which made it very tempting to turn on the light. I resisted the urge because if anyone had gotten into the basement I should be able to temporarily blind them with my flashlight, giving me a chance to get away or fight back. 

The darkness didn't concern me as I was quite familiar with the basement layout. I made my way along the wall, the concrete floor cold underneath my bare feet. First checking the spare room and the storage room, then I flashed the main area from various angles. I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. I kept this space clean so there was nothing to hide behind.

The last room was the bathroom. Anyone hiding in there likely already knew I was downstairs, but I kept to my strategy. I jumped in shining my flashlight in the hope of blinding any intruders. Passing my flashlight over the mirror I caught a glimpse of a young girl with hair matted with what appeared to be blood.

“What the hell!?” I passed the beam of light over the mirror again. Nothing. I turned on the bathroom light. After adjusting to the sudden blinding light I found nothing. No girl. I conducted another search of the basement to find nothing.

“Maybe I’m just overly tired and saw something that wasn’t there,” I told myself. Shutting off the lights I made my way back upstairs. I closed the basement door, latching it shut and made my way back to bed.

I get under the covers and attempt sleep. Creeeaaak. I hear it again. The sound of someone walking up and down the hallway. Confused, I sat up. I was sure I was alone, wasn’t I? I had checked every room in the house.

I poked my head outside my bedroom door. The sound of people whispering made its way to my ears. I strained trying to make out what was being said. Dozens of voices seemed to mix together creating an unintelligible stew of conversation. The voices seemed to be coming from downstairs so I went back down to investigate.

This time I turned on every light as I went. Again I searched the house room by room. Nothing. The whispering always seemed to be coming from somewhere else. 

As I made my way into the kitchen I glanced out the window into the backyard. For a split second I thought I saw the figure of a young boy, bruised and bloodied, standing in my garden. I jumped and blinked. When I looked again there was nothing. 

Suddenly I heard the sound of someone banging on my basement door. A rapid, panicked pounding like they were hoping by the grace of God that the door would open or they would break it down if they hit it enough. 

I opened the door and turned on the light to once again reveal nothing. Then the whispering began again. This time the voices seemed to be coming from the basement. 

I made my way down slowly. Each step on the wooden staircase creaking and groaning under my weight. The whispers continued. I stood at the bottom of the staircase, eyes moving from corner to corner and room to room, watching for the source of the noise. 

I began a room by room search of the basement. This of course revealed nothing. I stood for a moment closing my eyes to listen. That’s when it hit me. Upon my realization I opened my eyes and looked down at the concrete floor beneath me. 

The voices seemed to be coming from from all around now, no source to be seen, but what if that source was hidden from view? It couldn’t be, I thought to myself.

I got down on my hands and knees, bringing my ear to the cold cement. I once again closed my eyes and listened. The whispers were louder now, though still an unintelligible mix. I sat there for a few minutes trying to discern what was being said.

My focus was broken with the sound of knocking coming from upstairs. I sat up on my knees. Knock, knock, knock. Someone was at my door. I glanced back down at the floor. The whispering had ceased. It was as though the conspirators no longer wished to talk with the possibility of a stranger intruding on their space.

I headed back up and opened the door to find a middle aged man in a suit standing on my door step. Two police officers in uniform stood behind him. 

“Sorry to disturb you so late at night. I’m detective Martin,” he pulled his badge from his jacket pocket. “I have a warrant to search your property, so I’m going to need you to let us in.” He now pulled a piece of paper from his jacket pocket.

“Co… come on in,” I said, stepping out of the way.

“I have some questions for you so we’re going to wait in the living room while officers Smith and Brown search the house.” I sat on my couch while Detective Martin pulled up a chair across from me. 

We sat like that for a few minutes. Martin staring at me like he could see inside my mind. It made me very uncomfortable. “I thought you had questions for me,” I had to break the silence.

Without blinking or moving his eyes Martin pulled out two photographs. One of a boy, the other a girl, both teenagers. “Do you recognize either of these kids?”

“No,” I quickly answered.

“Really? Because we have witnesses that say they saw you with both of them right before they disappeared.” 

“Sorry, but that couldn’t have been me. I don’t recognize either of them.” I kept my face neutral, but I could feel a mix of anger and fear building up inside me.

“Detective Martin! You might want to come and take a look in the basement. This concrete floor is all patchy like it’s been dug up and re-laid in sections. I also found a bed down here. There’s bloodstains on it.” The voice of Smith came from the basement. ‘Shit’ I thought to myself. 

“Looks like he’s been digging recently in the backyard too.” Brown called from the kitchen. Martin gave me an I got you look. I didn’t say anything after that. Martin placed me in cuffs and brought me to the police station.

The next day they began digging up my basement and yard. They found the bodies of the two teenagers. The boy had been buried in the backyard, the girl in the basement. Apparently my neighbor saw me doing some ‘suspicious’ digging in my yard. Of course I had to put him out there. There was no more room in my basement.