The Neighbor's Basement

CW: foul language, violence, child abuse

      I stabbed a steak knife through the orange pumpkin flesh and sawed a jagged line around the stem. Warm rays of sun hugged my shoulders while I worked. The scent of burning bread from the egg sandwich Jeremy was grilling on the deck tickled my nose.

           “So, you and Trent are like an official thing now?” Jeremy asked while spraying canned cheese across his sandwich. 

           I looked down to hide that stupid smile that crept across my face anytime I heard his name and reached my hand inside the pumpkin to pull out gooey orange globs and separate them from the seeds.

           “Yeah, I guess so.” I tried my hardest to sound cool about the whole thing, even though my insides were bouncing around like a peppy cheerleader just thinking about it. My first boyfriend ever and so far, it’s been perfect.

           “Maybe you’ll get married and have a bunch of puppies.”

           “Still on this werewolf thing?” I rolled my eyes and peeled off strings of orange that stuck to my palm.

           “One day you’ll see.”

           “You know how when bullies are really homophobic people say they’re probably actually gay, or when someone constantly accuses their partner of cheating it’s likely they’re the cheater?”

           I turned to see Jeremy grinning and flipping his sandwich onto a paper plate.

           “You’re saying I’m a werewolf?”

           “No. Not exactly…but something. I’ve been thinking maybe you’re an alien. Sent here to infiltrate the human species for research or whatever. I mean you aren’t very human-like.” I nod my head towards his sandwich as a prime example. No one uses a grill to grill their grilled cheese, and an egg with canned cheese? Gross.

           “Humans have bad taste you’re saying?” He bit into the sandwich and a mix of yellow yolk and orange cheese oozed across his cheeks. “Cause this is supremely delicious.” 

           “I’m saying you shouldn’t be mean about Trent. He’s nothing but nice to you.”

           “Yeah, he’s a nice guy. And if you’re cool with kissing a mouth that’s recently torn through live rabbit flesh and filled with blood, that’s your call. My duty as a friend to give you the facts though.” Specks of sandwich flew from his mouth as he talked before chewing it all down.

           “Facts? Sure.”

           “You think aliens are real, but not werewolves, huh?”

           “I know aliens are real.” I saw them.

           Jeremy didn’t say anything. I looked at him and saw his head tilted to the side. His eyes were narrowed, squinting maybe.

           “What’re you seeing?” I stood and followed his gaze to my neighbor’s yard. This neighbor had moved in a few months ago. I had never paid much attention to him. I saw what looked like a hand slapping at his basement window. “Is someone trapped in there?”

           The hand vanished.

           “We should go check it out,” Jeremy said.

           I shook my hands to loosen pumpkin slime off them. It didn’t work, of course. “That’d be trespassing.”

           “What if they’re in trouble?”

           “We could call the cops.”

           “The cops won’t find anything. They’ll need a search warrant and I doubt the two town troublemakers seeing something will be enough evidence.”

           “Yeah, but if he sees us or it’s not what we think it is, then we’ll be the ones in trouble yet again with the cops. I’m starting to think we see Deputy John Johnson more than his own family does.”

           “I’ve got a bad feeling about it.”

           “What if it’s just a Halloween display?”

           “Dude doesn’t even have a pumpkin in his yard. Be pretty weird if that was it.”

           “We said we’d stop breaking rules.” At least I did. After that house caught on fire.

           “I can’t think of a better reason to break a rule though. Someone could be in trouble.”

           “We’re not heroes.”

           “We could be.”

           What if that person does need our help? There must be a way we come out of this alright, even with Jeremy’s horrendous bad luck.

           “Fine, we need a good plan though. And preferably some more evidence first.”

           A window in our house overlooked this neighbor’s house, so we set up in front of it with snacks and drinks. We stared out the window for hours. Nothing much happened. Once we had the cover of nightfall, we planned to look in through that basement window.

           A knock on the door startled me and woke Jeremy, who had dozed off at some point. Cautiously, I walked over and peered out the window by the door. Trent stood on our small porch with pizza, flowers, and a bag of something. I opened the door with all the excitement of a child at a fancy birthday party with ponies and clowns. I imagine anyway, I never had that.

           “Hi!” I said while holding open the door.

           “Is some of that for me?” Jeremy asked already eyeing up the pizza box.

           “Yeah. I got some of those weird chips you like too.”

           “Ketchup and pickles?” Jeremy grabbed the bag with a wide grin. Then ruffled Trent’s hair and said, “You’re such a good boy.”

           My heart soared taking the beautiful bouquet of mixed flowers. This was what I always dreamed of. We kissed and I couldn’t get enough. It was like trying to have one bite of your favorite ice cream and then next thing you know the pint is gone. Each one left me wanting more.

           “Something’s finally happening!” Jeremy whisper yelled. Already munching on the chips, he pointed out the window.

           “We think our neighbor has someone trapped in the basement,” I said to fill Trent in on the happenings. I grabbed a slice of the pizza and joined Jeremy by the window.

           “How long have you been spying on him?” Trent asked.

           “Spying makes it sound bad. We’re more like a neighborhood watch,” I said.

           “Right. That─”

           A loud noise, that from watching we knew was a glass beer bottle breaking, interrupted Trent. Through our window and our neighbor’s one opened kitchen window, we could see him having a complete meltdown of some kind. All sorts of things were being smashed as he yelled something at a cell phone. I glanced down to the basement window and saw the hand pushing the glass each time a loud crash sounded. They’re trying to escape. Using the noise so he won’t hear them break the window.

           The man stopped and put his hands on his head. Then he screamed and dropped out of sight. Every other window in the house was fully covered with thick blinds. It made some sense. The only people who could see his kitchen and basement window were us. If we reported him, he'd probably know we did it.

           After several minutes, the man got up and disappeared into another room. Then we heard what could have been the front door slam and ran to another window to check. We watched him hop into a truck and speed off.

           “Now’s the time,” Jeremy said.

           “Time for what?” Trent asked.

           “We’re looking into the basement window.”

           “Are you sure─”

           “We need to move quick.” Jeremy said while pulling his long hair into a scrunchie. “You can be look out.”

           “Fine,” Trent muttered. “Be careful.”

           Jeremy and I quietly snuck out the front door. Because he had a fence, we needed to get in the front. We stood on the sidewalk a moment and looked around for any prying eyes. Then we pulled open the gate, closed it behind us and darted over to the window. I looked over to see Trent nervously watching us. We crouched down by the basement window but couldn’t see anything since it was dark. My heart was pounding so loud in my ears, I thought the whole street could hear it like thunder rumbling.

           “We need to use a flashlight,” Jeremy said.

           “There’s no going back if we’re wrong. That person will see us.”

           “I’m more worried we’re right.”

           “Me too.”

           Jeremy turned on the flashlight app on his phone and with a deep breath shined the light in through the basement window. Clearly this basement wasn’t someone’s bedroom. The floor had that gray dirt covering of an unfinished basement. Pipes were visible and storage boxes lined the walls. The flashlight landed on a thick metal chain. Jeremy followed the chain to one end and found it wrapped around a support column. He followed the chain the other way and saw a pale, sockless, feminine foot. He moved the light up skinny legs, a tattered nightgown, and then a face with a hand shielding her eyes. My heart dropped.

           “We need to call Deputy John Johnson.”

           “We need to get her out of there.” Jeremy was up and storming towards the door of the house. He grabbed the doorknob and twisted, but it was locked. He lifted a potted plant, which I assumed was because sometimes people left keys under them. Something clattered to the ground as he lifted the pot. Then he flung the pot through the window.

           “Jeremy! What the fuck?” I yelled. I reached down to see what had fallen out of the pot and lifted what clearly looked to be a spare key. 

           Jeremy ignored me and jumped through the window. Glass shards crunched under his work boots.

           “So much for not getting in trouble with the cops,” I muttered.

           I put the key in the door even though it was too late. I didn’t want to walk across glass in my sandals. The key didn’t fit though. What was it for? I put it in my pocket in case we’d need it later. Maybe there was another door, and I could lessen Jeremy’s damage. Of course, I stepped inside to hear Jeremy body slamming the basement door. Hopefully Trent called the cops. What if that guy comes back?

           “There’s probably a key somewhere,” I said. I tried the one from outside, but it didn’t work. While Jeremy kicked at the door, I searched the drawers nearby. I found a ring of keys.

           “Where do you think all these go?”

           “Maybe he has other girls in other houses. Or storage units.”

           “We need to call the cops, Jeremy. This could be huge!”

           “After we save her.”

           I tried keys that looked right and finally found one that worked. We pushed the door open and flipped on the light. Normally I’d be more discrete, but after that front window thing, why bother? If not Trent, someone must have called the cops by now. Jeremy raced down the stairs.

           The girl looked very young. If I had to guess I’d put her around twelve. Her body looked way too thin and fragile, and her skin had a ghostly complexion. Tears streamed down her face, her severely chapped lips chattered, and she kept repeating “Thank you,” over and over.

           Jeremy searched for a way to break the chain, while I tried the many keys. The sixth key opened the lock. As I pulled the chains off, I could hear the click and push of the door opening upstairs.

           “The hell is this?” A man’s voice yelled.

           “We’ve got to go,” Jeremy said. He helped the girl to her feet.

           “We’ll get you some warm clothes and call the cops. You’ll be okay.” I reassured her.

           “What’re you doing in my house?” I heard the man yell. Then mumbling. Did Trent come over to distract him? Then we heard a loud thump, groans of pain, and the sounds of exertion. Are they fighting? A loud growl followed. Then police sirens. I pushed Jeremy towards the basement hatch door. He grabbed the girl’s hand and pulled her. Like a doll she snapped forward at his tug, ready to move in any direction. I noticed scars across her shoulders above the nightgown. Tears blurred my vision.

           Jeremy shoved at the hatch doors, but they wouldn’t budge. “I think there’s an outdoor lock or something.”

           “We have to go upstairs.” I searched the basement for a weapon. There were plenty. I grabbed a sledgehammer, Jeremy grabbed an axe, and the girl grabbed long shrub trimming shears with a look in her eyes like they meant something. We walked slowly up the stairs. The sirens were louder, and the police presumably close. I kicked the door open with my sledgehammer ready to whack. No one was there. I stepped into the empty kitchen and checked in all directions. I waved them forward and out the back door. I made it out the door and down the stairs, and so did the girl. The man grabbed Jeremy by the back of his black flannel shirt and pulled him in. Jeremy kicked back, then swung his axe.

           He missed and the man charged forward, knocking him down the stairs and landing on top of him. The girl screamed a deafening, high-pitch shriek, and ran towards the front of the house. I stepped forward, but then the man sprung up. The reflection of the moon shone on his knife blade, warning me he had one right before he stabbed forward and through my stomach. I gasped and stumbled back, instinctively clutching the wound as he pulled the knife out.

           Then a large black dog….no, wolf launched onto the man’s back and shoved him down. The man screamed as the wolf claws tore through his back and wolf fangs ripped off his ear. The man stopped moving, but with only the dim light of the moon and the house lights pouring through the door, it was hard to know for sure. I dropped to the cool grass. The wolf walked up to me.

           “Trent?” I whispered. A part of me still didn’t believe or want to believe Jeremy, but a wolf running through a highly populated street to save some random girl from an attacker was just as unlikely.

           The wolf licked my face. I wrapped my arms around his soft, neck. The wolf kept licking, and for a moment I worried maybe it wasn’t Trent but some rabid wolf tenderizing me for eating. Can you imagine surviving all that to randomly be…I fell back, and everything went back.

           I woke up to bright white overhead lights. I blinked, groaned, and rubbed my eyes. I saw an IV pole and bag, and a television hung high on the wall. I looked down to see I wore a hospital gown and had a blanket on. Trent slept with his head on the edge of my hospital bed and his hand wrapped around mine. His hair the same black as the wolf that saved me. With my free hand, I pet his soft hair. I knew Jeremy guessed right, but it didn’t bother me.

           I glanced up at the television, to see the news. I saw the girl we rescued, though it took a moment to recognize her. She now wore my clothes and though frail, she looked cleaned up, at least. They were talking about reuniting her with her family and how she had been missing for seven years. Jeremy was on next retelling the tale with all the drama of a theater star. Deputy John Johnson said we caught a man they’ve been searching a long time for. This man kept moving around to avoid being found. This girl was far from the only girl, but now they had hope of finding the others. A little girl and maybe other little girls too had been saved by the most unlikely of crews. Who would have thought? The town troublemakers and pranksters, and a real, actual werewolf turned heroes. A Halloween miracle.