TRAPPED IN THE BASEMENT

The house is in a run-down area.
From the outside looking in,
I can’t see any lights or
signs of life.
There are screams and shouts
coming from other old houses in the area.
But this house has a deserted look to it.
Like no one has crossed its threshold in years.
But I have to enter.
A note has been sent to me
from someone trapped inside.
But why me?
I don’t know anyone from around here.
I’m all alone.
No one wanted to accompany me.
Am I signing my own death sentence?
Most probably I am.
But I move one foot in front of the other
as I slowly enter the dilapidated house.
The upstairs rooms appear to be empty shells,
where windows and walls have fallen in disrepair.
All there is left is the basement.
I open the door and could only see darkness.
And an awful rotting smell emanates from below.
I’m not going in. Enough is enough, I’m out of here.
A hard push from behind has me falling down the steep
steps to land on the cold, hard basement floor.
I look up at the the only source of light—
the light filtering through the opening of the door.
I can’t see anything or anyone.
Then the door slams shut.
The light is taken away from me.
Now all I can see is darkness.
Then I hear strange squeaking noises
and I feel creatures scurrying across my arm.
They must be rats. I hope they’re not hungry.
I crawl away from the sounds and hit something.
It has an arm and a leg. It feels like a person.
The person isn’t moving or breathing.
I feel around some more and locate his other limbs.
But something is wrong. He has no head.
There’s no blood anywhere, which is strange
considering the head’s been chopped off.
Then I heard groans coming from behind the body.
I could see shadows rising up from the ground.
They looked like people, but without heads.
I begin to crawl back to the stairs to get as far
away from these creatures as possible.
A hand reaches toward me and catches my foot.
It begins to pull me farther into the darkness.
I start screaming and shrieking.
The creatures seem to be getting angry.
They stand up and lurch toward me.
I’m out of control. I’m yelling at them
to leave me alone. I begin throwing objects at them.
I find a crow bar and throw it at a huge figure.
He goes down and begins to cry, “Stop, please stop.”
He sounds human.
The light turns on. I look around.
I’m looking at a room full of zombies, but
they are just staring at me.
The one I hit is sitting on the floor moaning to himself.
One zombie stands up and takes off his head.
Underneath the mask, I was face to face with the cutest boy from school.
"What’s going on?" I shriek at him.
"It is supposed to be a fun prank but it went wrong. No one is supposed to get hurt. It is a Halloween prank."
"The prank is only on me?" She asked.
"Yes, I’m sorry. No one else was brave enough to join you."
"I guess it wasn’t such a good idea," she said.
"Well, if you agree to be my date to the Halloween dance, then it wouldn’t have been for nothing."
"You’re kidding."
"No, I’m serious. We’d be great fun together."
He looks at her with his big blue eyes and she is lost.
"I don’t even know your name."
"My name is Brian and you’re Annie."
"Hi Brian. I guess it’s a date."
"Come Annie and help us clean up before we get into trouble. Then we could go somewhere to discuss the party." He takes her hand.
After the clean-up, she goes with Brian for coffee and donuts. She can’t believe how lucky she is even though she’d been almost scared to death. She still doesn’t know why the most popular boy in school wants her. Is there more to this prank that she didn’t know about yet?