Weekends are always a welcome intermission, almost like elementary recess, because I get some well-earned rest from the stresses of work. On the other hand, it is also when I must do weekly chores that I have delayed throughout the weekdays. Can’t win for losing. I think the one place that I really need to clean first is the basement because lately I’ve been thinking about upgrading the house, and the basement is a good candidate with the walk-out double glass doors and a patio that I never use.
John slowly dresses and later makes his way down the stairs to the basement with a broom and dustpan in one hand and a cordless Dyson in the other.
Hmm, I guess I can start at the back. It’s been 6 months since I bought this place, but I really haven’t spent any time sorting things out. It was my parents’ retirement home, and after the usual after-death formalities and sibling squabbles, it was agreed upon by everyone that it was okay for me to buy the place, allowing them to enjoy the funds split from the sale. Because it was our parents’, we did not do any inspections; instead, we just used the current Zillow price, which I thought was reasonable.
Walking to the very back of the basement, he could see that one of his first renovations would be installing lights in the basement, as he could hardly see anything. As he started to sweep from the farthest and darkest corner, he noticed a doorknob sticking out from the wall right at the corner. How strange, it looks almost like it might be a door that was intended to be installed later, but no, there are hinges, and it is a full-size door. Wow, maybe this is where they kept their millions!
Grasping the doorknob, he was pleasantly surprised to see it easily open. What he didn’t expect was the glint of sunlight as if in early morning, and the grass and trees. With a lot of hesitation, he stepped out onto the grass. Looking back, he could see the door was recessed into a gigantic tree that dwarfed everything around it; this explained why the sunlight was only a glint. Walking further out, he noticed another astounding sight; instead of one sun, there were two. My God, is this a dream or am I hallucinating?
Gingerly walking around the small green meadow, he could see well-worn paths that led in different directions. Turning around, he could see eight paths, and surprisingly, they all looked identical. Let me just try this one for a bit to see where it goes. Walking ever so slowly, he was on the trail about ten feet when the unexpected happened.
From both sides of the thick, small, spindly hands with long, sharp claws came out like spiders and grasped at his clothes. But, grasping it lightly, they were shredding his shirt and jeans, and the scratches were painful. “Ow, what the hell,” he exclaimed.
There was a chittering sound as if there were hundreds of creatures screaming at the same time. “Getty, getty, getty.”
This was enough for John. He looked back and could see the doorway into the basement still open. Running back to the tree as quickly as he could, the chittering stopped as soon as he was in the meadow. Inside the basement, closing the door, he was breathless. Running upstairs to the bathroom, he could see his clothes in shreds and long bleeding scratches all over his body.
