The Mad Scientist

Startled, the noise of footsteps caused Ally to awaken out of a deep slumber. This was the second night in a row that she had heard a strange noise coming from below. A slight chill trickled down her spine as she contemplated getting up. “Should I get up, am I just imagining this?” The disappearance of five children out of Bennet County in the past month had not exactly made her feel safe, not even in her own home. “I know I am not a kid, but still, who knows who may be lingering out in the bushes.”

Her feet dangled over the side of the bed. Hesitantly, she got up and slowly tip-toed across the bedroom floor. The doorknob turned cautiously and as it was almost fully extended, it let out a creak. “Shit, I thought. If someone had broken into the house, I would be found in no time.” Her mouth slightly opened, but not even the slightest frequency of noise projected. She couldn’t gather the strength to yell out for her stepfather. She continued to proceed across the upstairs. There was a walkway that connected her bedroom to the staircase. On one side, the living room could be seen over the railing. On the other side, the front door stood with long, glass windows on each side. One little peak and she noticed a shadow dancing across the living room wall. Or, was it just the shadow of the tree branches dancing on the wall as the wind whistled between them? She couldn’t be for sure so she kept on course as to not look left or right for fear that something or someone may appear.

The darkness had swallowed everything in sight. She had realized that she had perhaps made a giant mistake and at any moment a ghost, monster, or human being would jump out at her through the darkness. Goosebumps began to coat her skin. She was standing in the downstairs hallway right in front of the basement door. Slow and deliberate, the door handle began to turn. She tried to move, but her muscles were tense, and her body was frozen in place. Her eyes became enlarged and the hairs on the back of her neck bristled. Finally, the door creaked open and it was…..she closed her eyes convinced that she was, at any second, to come in contact with her ultimate demise.

“Ally, what are you doing up at this hour?” Her father walked through the doorway and appeared standing right in front of her.

“I, I….I heard something. Why are you down in the basement so late? I thought someone was in the house.”

“I couldn’t sleep so I finished up some work, go back to bed.” Her father sternly said.

Ally told her father good night and cautiously made her way back to her room. She still wasn’t convinced that she was safe. As she crawled into bed, her mind began to wonder. How was she expected to drift off to sleep now? Why was her father always in the basement so late at night? What in the world could he be working on so diligently? He was a Chemist at the local county hospital, and he refused to disclose any information about his “project.” Tomorrow was going to be the day she was going to enter the basement and figure out what was really going on.

Ally waited nervously for her father to leave the next morning. He never missed Saturday morning tennis with his close friend, Dan. She estimated he would be gone for a couple of hours. That was plenty of enough time for a curious teenager to snoop around. She anxiously looked at the clock a dozen of times. The digital clock bolted to the wall seemed to move at a snail’s pace. Suddenly, she heard the front door close. She got up, brushed her teeth, combed her hair and prepared for her adventure.

She was startled and dropped her brush when she heard the dog barking viciously downstairs. “Why would Bailey be barking, there is no one here….or is there?” Her previous paranoia had returned that the neighborhood intruder was back, and she was all alone now. He probably had been waiting outside in the bushes for her father to leave. She quietly retreated down the stairs peaking in every direction. She was so silent she could hear the rapid thump of her heart against her chest. She saw Bailey, but she wasn’t barking at anyone, just at the basement door. The hair on the back of Bailey’s neck was standing straight up. Now, Ally was really alarmed.

Her stomach shifted un-easily and as she reached for the door handle. She took in a deep breath and opened the door. She scanned the room, but there was nothing terrifying at all. The knot in her stomach began to dissipate. Light flooded into the basement from the windows that were placed lining the ceiling. All about the room were comfy chairs, a bookshelf with neatly stacked chemistry books, and a guitar in the corner. “Why did Dad not want me to come down here so bad,” Ally thought to herself. She followed Bailey who was thoroughly sniffing for something. As Ally walked over to the bookshelf she noticed a dark spot on the wood floor. She bent down and touched the spot. Ally found it to have the thickness and color of drying blood.

As Ally stood up, she noticed a crack in between two books. She shuffled some of the books to the side and as she peered closer, she noticed a staircase. “This can’t be real, could it?” She thought to herself. But being the curious teenager that she was, there was no going back now. She started pulling all the books from the shelf and noticed that the shelf was also constructed as a door, a secret passageway of sorts. She wasn’t sure if was going to find something exciting or terrifying, but she was going down anyways. The stairs were made from stone and moss had started to grow between the cracks of the old stairs. The light was dim, and she had to be careful not to trip and fall crashing to the bottom.

When she reached the bottom, her eyes became wide with amazement. It was a laboratory. The desks and chairs looked outdated, like maybe they were from the 1960’s. She surely had never seen anything like them before. But all the equipment looked brand new. Ally curiously walked around and noticed the stainless-steel centrifuges and various scientific-looking machines on one table, test tubes on the other. There was an autoclave with double doors and a separate enclosed area protected by flood hoods. She was amazed by all the technology her father had been working on. “Why didn’t he tell me about any of this. He must be working on something big.”

She walked up to the desk with test tubes. They were filled to a designated marker with fresh blood and were neatly labeled. But when she looked closer, her gut began to tangle again in a million little knots. There were five tubes of blood and each were labeled for the children who were missing in Bennet County.  In disbelief, she took a step background tripping over a small stool. She caught herself on a small jacket that was neatly placed over a chair. She held it up and examined it considering it was much too small for her father.

“What in the world! This is Jimmy Eaton’s jacket.” Ally knew because the news had it plastered all over the T.V. as one of the last pieces of clothing he was seen wearing when he disappeared. Ally suddenly became pale to the face, as if she had been painted white. Then with one step backwards, she crumpled like a puppet that had just lost all control of its strings. Nausea crept up from the very core of her belly to her head and the world slowly closed in until it became completed engulfed in blackness. A noise arose in the distance. Ally couldn’t make it out, until her senses began to refocus again. The noise became most distinct when she realized it was her father returning from his tennis match.

“Shit, how am I going to get out of here without him finding me.” The adrenaline rushed through her veins, and her heart began to thump like a percussion line. The absolute horror completely paralyzed Ally. The more she wanted to bolt and run away, she just stood there frozen. The one person she looked as a protector had in an instant became her worst fear. “But where was I going to hide? I can’t make it back upstairs without him seeing me. And if he did, I would absolutely be dead. He would surely know what I discovered.”

She scurried around the table and crouched down. She had accidently hit a tray holding an empty test tube and watched petrified as it fell to the ground. It seemed like it was falling in slow-motion. “What an idiot,” she thought. Certainly, she would be found now. It clanked on the floor, but luckily did not break. She reached for it and as the writing on the side came into focus it read, “Ally Babcock.” Her brain stuttered for a moment and every part of her body went on hiatus waiting for her thoughts to slowly catch up. She got up with the tube in her hand. Allies fingers were spasming rhythmically as she carefully placed the tube back in the tray.  She crouched back down under the table when she heard them…footsteps. They gradually increased in sound. They got closer and closer as her heartbeat simultaneously escalated in cadence.

Ally just sat there in utter dread and silence. Adrenaline flooded her system. It pumped like it was trying to escape the walls of her arteries. Surely, he would hear the volume of each beat. Her body wanted to run as fast as she could, but instead she remained, silent. Let’s face it, there is no where to run. The adrenaline surged so fast like an electric current that she almost vomited and she placed her hand over her mouth. Beads of sweat trickled between her fingers and saliva started to thicken and collect in her throat.

She couldn’t see his shoes or hear anything when she finally heard a familiar voice. She felt the tension ripple through his voice. “I’ve been waiting for you, Ally.” She squinted her eyes and a tear gently rolled down her bony cheek. “Don’t be afraid, it’s time to come out. I want to show you what I have been working on.” Even if she wanted to come out, she couldn’t. She was frozen in place, like a 19^th century statue. He crept up behind and yanked her arm. She violently flung her legs around doing whatever she could to escape, but he was too strong. He proceeded to grab Ally by the back of her shirt and through her across the room. A sudden gush of pain rushed through her body and as she attempted to get up, he placed a white cloth over Allies mouth, rendering her body limp. In those few moments, there was absolute silence.

Allies eyelids slowly opened. She looked around and noticed a huge needle lying on the table next to a pair of surgical gloves. Her hands were tied behind a chair. Her father appeared.

“What is going on? Why are you doing this to me?” She asked assertively.

“Ally, there is much I need to tell you. You see, I have been working on perfecting my concoction for centuries.” Ally, looked at her father with a perplexed expression. Her father was 40 years old, but he had suddenly appeared much older compared to two hours ago when he left. My father had jet-black hair, but it appeared he had a fringe of thin, grey-white hair encompassing the crown of his head. The strong, fluorescent light in the lab really illustrated his worn face. He now had wrinkles that were etched deeply into his skin.

“Did you say centuries? How old are you?” She asked, puzzled.

“Yes, I have been searching, sacrificing, and experimenting for eternal youth for hundreds of years. I’ve tried so many different concoctions, and I think the perfect one is at my fingertips, just a few adjustments. In the meantime, I need sacrifices like you in order to keep me young. Nothing makes the effect last longer than the blood of my own.”

Ally squirmed in the chair. “I am going to die,” she thought. She looked at the man in front of her. That was not her father, that was a monster. His face was strained, and his fists opened and closed metrically.  He walked over with the giant needle in his left hand. There was a clear liquid, an anesthetic of some sort. Ally fought with admirable strength as her wrists became bloody and raw from the rope that tightly bound them. A slow, warm stream of blood trickled between her little fingers and dripped onto the floor beneath her forming a perfect geometrical circle. When she had exasperated all efforts of fleeing, she winced as he shoved the needle and slowly injected the liquid into her arm.

Her eyelids became heavy, but she flickered them in an attempt to keep them open. The air around her became warm and pleasant against her skin. She let go and allowed herself to become engulfed in the tranquil feeling.

“What if I would have never found the secret passageway?” She thought as she drifted off into eternal sleep.