The Basement Door

Lai never knew what it was, but the new house him and his parents moved into gives off a creepy feeling. Although it had been his grandparents house in the 70s, the outside doesn't seem welcoming at all. He always talks about how the trees, are so big and scary. The steps are old and almost worn out, as if there was a war, and everyone had to run back and forth upon them. He always claims that he saw a blood stain, on the cobblestone path on the way inside the house.

The inside, as Lai describes it, is, "just made for old people". From the soiled hallway rug, to the squeaky stairs that Lai seems to think only creak, when he tries to sneak downstairs into the kitchen for food at 3 am.

But one thing he can never get over is the smell. Lai likes to joke and say it was as if Freddy Krueger, Jason, and Michael Meyers had a killing spree and brought all the bodies back to the house and stuffed them somewhere. There was a time he had threw up in his mouth from inhaling too much of the stench, thinking it was just an "old house smell", his parents liked to say as an excuse.

The first time he entered the house, he hadn't even noticed the smell until after he walked passed the basement door a few times.

It was big and painted with a thick white coat, almost as if it's been painted over countless times already. It looked clean and almost seemed like it was untouched. The way it stood at seven feet tall, always made Lai feel small even if he himself was only a few inches shorter.

His parents made it a rule to never go down to the basement, as Lai's grandmother had explained that there is nothing but boxes filled with clothes and dusting furniture.

Already uninterested in "old people" clothes and furnishings, Lai never had the urge to go down there.

After living in the house for about a year, Lai began to notice a change in his parents behavior. They began going out more to what they say were parties but, he only noticed because of the change in decorations throughout the entire house.

There had been a window with no curtain placed over, that Lai oddly seemed to look forward to seeing every morning after waking up from his deep sleep. The way the sun shined in, Lai would sit on the step in front of it and let the rays burn his tan and tired face.

The window was now covered, and Lai was told never to open it. The soiled carpet was removed from the hallway, and replaced with new floor boards, preferably dark wood.

Previous to his parent's odd behavior, the area around the basement door was plain with no decoration. Nothing to welcome anyone or bring them interest. There was now a wooden table, with family pictures that Lai never remembered taking. Beside the table, stood an old lamp Lai's father had bought at a local garage sale.

But what really made Lai shiver at just the sight, was a mask hung directly over the freshly painted, basement door. It was almost to realistic for Lai's liking.

It appeared one morning after Lai came back from visiting his grandparents. He was already creeped out from the serial killer stories they told him the entire time he was there. And the sight of the human mask, made him cringe even more.

"Mom, what is... that?" Lai asked while hugging his mom and happening to notice the mask.

"What's what?" She turned around. "Oh that? That's just something your father won last night at a party we went to. Don't worry about it."

"Oh... okay," Lai replied to his mother walking up the stairs, eyes still on the mask.

It had become night when Lai heard a thud from downstairs. He had his headphones in, but the music he played was low enough for him to hear an almost sliding sound through, what he believed was the hallway.

Hearing another thud, Lai jumped in fear and finally decided to see what was going on. He was hesitant at first and thought about all the people that had died being curious in movies. After a two-minute, self reflection, he came to the conclusion that it was probably just his parents coming back from another party.

He decided not to bother them since he assumed they were really tired, especially since they came in at 4 am in the morning. But that choice ran out of his head, after he heard a scream.

It was a blood, curdling scream that sounded like someone crying for help.

Lai ran out of his room and to the balcony of the stairs and looked over.

It was quiet so he decided to listen for another scream, and after convincing himself it was just his imagination, he heard another scream and finally noticed the basement door open. When he was ready to come down the stairs, his father said his name making him jump again.

"Hey, what was that? It sounded like someone getting hurt. Is everything alright?" Lai asked shaking.

"Yes, everything's fine son. Your mother just put on a scary movie," he replied.

"But mom hates scary movies," and at those words Lai's father was shocked with the realization that he said the wrong thing.

"Uh... uh... oh it was for me son," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head and looing off to the ground.

After a moment of awkward silence, someone was walking up the stairs out of breath.

"Hey darling, can you bring the knives for me out of the car?" Lai's mother, oblivious to Lai's father's hand gestures to be quiet, didn't notice her son standing at the stair balcony in confusion.

"Knives?" Lai asked innocently.

His mother looked up with shock but soon changed her expression to a cunning smirk, that made Lai even more scared.

"Honey, you never notice my hand gestures until it's too late," said Lai's father smacking his forehead.

"Oh shut up, did you forget?" Lai's father looked at his mother with confusion. "Honestly, I don't know why my mother made you the leader. It's the two-hundredth anniversary darling. And that means...?" Lai's mother gestured for his father to finish the sentence hoping he wouldn't say anything stupid.

"OOOH. You mean the member initiation. How could I forget?" He smiled and then proceeded to laugh that made Lai and his mother give each other a look of concern.

"What? Member initiation? What are you guys talking about?" Lai finally asked as the moment to speak opened up.

"Come down here honey. There is something we have to show you," his mother waved her hand for him to come down the stairs.

At first, Lai hesitated but followed just guessing it was his parents playing around.

His father walks down the basement stairs first and his mother followed. Lai stood at the top of the stairs. He had never expected much but it still creeped him out at how cold it felt, even with the heat in the house at around 70 degrees.

He finally walked down the stairs and gagged at the sight of a woman and a man sitting tied up choking on blood and their tears.

"Mom what the f***!" Lai yelled.

"Lai! Language!" His mother giggled.

"Sorry mom, but what are you doing to these people?" Lai ran to untie the woman but his father jumped in front of him with a look that told Lai he wasn't going anywhere for awhile.

"Since your father still hasn't gotten the knives from the car, we'll just use this," his mother picked up an old looking kitchen knife, although it was too long to be one.

"What? Use that for what?" Lai gulped. "What's going on? Tell me!" Yelled Lai.

"Don't yell at your mother son." His father sighed walking over to the man tied up with a cloth in his mouth. "Well, I'm sure your grandparents told you the story of the Human Faced Killers?"

"H- how did you know? You're not... them are you?" Lai asked.

"My baby has a brain. Oh thank God, you're aren't like your father." His mother laughed.

"Here." His mother handed him the knife and pointed to the woman trying to loosen the rope around her feet.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Lai asked almost dropping the knife from shaking.

"Well, kill them. I thought you were smarter than this son." His father replied.

Lai dropped the knife and tried to run back up the stairs but his father caught him and wrestled him to the ground.

His mother picked up the now dusty knife and blew off the dirt. "Either you kill her, or we kill you and them both," his mother demanded.

Lai stopped struggling and decided he didn't want to die so he got up off the ground and snatched the knife from his mother's hands.

He assumed that this was completely a dream and the only way to get out of it, was to just kill this woman and move on.

He walked up to her and apologized profusely. He lifted up the knife and looked towards his parents.

His mother had a straight face with her arms crossed, which was completely opposite of what his father had looked like. He was prancing like a child with a huge smile on his face.

Lai shook his head and took a deep breath.

"Please be a dream, please be a dream," he pleaded before finally throwing his hand forward and impaling the woman with the knife.

He expected screams but soon jumped out of his bed in a panic.

"Oh thank God, it was only a dream," and Lai held his chest in relief. But after turning off the tv to once again go to sleep, he heard a thud come from downstairs, followed by the sliding of something across the hard wood.

But he didn't stop breathing until he heard the blood curdling scream, come from the basement he wasn't allowed in.