It was Saturday and I promised myself that I would clean out the basement. I have been dreading this and put it off for years.It had become a dumping ground for every old piece of furniture, clothes that were out of style and other artifacts of life that had been relegated to the black hole to be out of sight and out of mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I took a deep breath and picked up my weapons of war, a box of trash bags and a stack of plastic bins so I could at least organize the chaos. I opened the door and flipped the switch and the space illuminated with the harsh light of the bare light bulb hanging above the wooden steps. I dropped the stack of plastic bins and let them slide down the steps. They hit the stone wall at the bottom with a bang as I started down the steps, each one creaking with my weight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Standing at the bottom of the steps I took in the surrounding basement. It really looked like a hoarders home. There were boxes of clothes scattered around the floor. Several rolled up rugs laid at odd angles across the floor. Along the furthest wall was an old couch that had an ottoman and a coffee table stacked on top of it. Beside it were two club chairs, one with the seat worn through and the other with a large wine stain on the back rest. Each piece brought back memories of when the furniture was part of the active life of the house before losing its usefulness and being dropped into this oubliette to be forgotten. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The biggest piece of furniture was an enormous armoire that had been in the basement before I moved into the house. I had never moved it or even looked inside despite the fact that one of the doors was hanging by only one hinge. That seemed to be a good place to start. I will have to break that apart to get it up the stairs for sure. Luckily I had a sledge hammer resting at the bottom of the stairs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My first swing was satisfying as the partially hanging door flew off and hit the floor with a clatter. The second took out the main support on the right of the armoire and the whole thing collapsed into a heap. That was easier than I expected. The cloud of dust that rose from the wreckage was evidence of how old and decrepit the piece had been. As dust started to settle, the wall behind the armoire became visible for the first time in decades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The stone wall was interrupted by a large steel door with heavy metal bars crossing from top to bottom and side to side. That was odd. I never knew there was a door down here. There shouldn\u2019t be another room in the basement. I quickly cleaned away the debris to get a better view. The door was oversized and reached from the floor to the ceiling and was probably six feet wide. There was a wheel in the center that seemed to control the metal bars sliding in and out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It seemed to be an excessive security measure for a forgotten door in the basement. I wonder what could possibly be behind that door that warranted that level of security. My curiosity was more than I could contain. I grabbed the wheel in the center of the door and gave it a twist. It didn\u2019t budge. I slide the handle of the sledge into the wheel to get more leverage. I twisted again and with a squeal of metal against metal the bars slid inward to release the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I pulled on the door and had to kick more debris out of the way to get it to open. The door swung into the basement and stale dank air from behind the door flooded into the basement. All I could see behind the door was darkness but it seemed to be a large space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I pulled out my phone to use the flashlight. The basement lights didn\u2019t seem to penetrate the inky blackness beyond the door. I clicked on the flashlight and looked through the door. The stone floor continued but I couldn’t see any walls. I took a step into the space and reached out my phone to see if I could get the light to penetrate the darkness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is when I heard the sound. A soft slithering at first and then the slap of something wet against the stone. I turned the light of my phone toward the sound and saw a large greenish gray tentacle slithering across the stone floor toward me. I was only a few feet away but before I could look away another tentacle slapped across my face and knocked me to the floor. In a panic, I dropped my phone and tried to scurry across the floor backwards on all fours back to the door. I don\u2019t know what that was but I needed to get out of here. My heart raced and all I could think about was getting back to the main basement. Another tentacle reached out and grabbed my leg as I pushed to get to the door. I struck at it with the sledge hammer as best I could with one hand. It was more throwing it. I don\u2019t know if it even struck whatever it was in the darkness but it let go of my leg giving me enough time to finish my escape back to the basement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I slammed the door closed and turned the wheel to get the bars to lock the door tight. I stepped back from the door heaving with breathlessness. I felt like I might pass out from the panic. What was that thing? Had it been living down here the whole time I have been in this house without my knowledge. I don\u2019t know what to do now. Do I call someone to get it out of there? Do i just hope that the door continues to contain and go on about my life. I am not sure I can sleep in this house knowing that that thing, whatever it is down here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was Saturday and I promised myself that I would clean out the basement. I have been dreading this and put it off for years.It had become a dumping ground for every old piece of furniture, clothes that were out … Continue reading