W.S.S.H.

Reading Kills

“It’s fine, some cobwebs, lots of cobwebs, but no spiders that I see.” He decided, his voice echoing through the small space.
“Alright, I’m coming!” I decided, not wanting to be out here alone, so with one last sweep of my light behind me I crawled into the space. It wasn’t too difficult to get through, but I fell into the hard dirt when I tried to get up. Greg helped me up and I bumped my head quite painfully against the rock ceiling. I looked around, slapping cobwebs away from my face and looking around to see what exactly we had here. To my disappointment there didn’t seem to be treasure or anything different than the outside cave. The walls were still rock but the floor was less traveled, in fact I think we were the first people here. I feared that this was where the bodies were stashed, they never did find them, and since no one had found it here it would be a likely place to hide them.
“Creepy.” Greg decided, shining his light ahead of him. There was a tunnel stretching forward into what seemed to be black nothingness. I just shook my head, not wanting to go down there.
“Absolutely not.” I decided.
“Gold John, gold.” He insisted, trying to pull my arm forward but I kept my feet planted.
“Why don’t we get the cops or someone to come with us? I’d feel a lot better with an armed guard.” I pointed out.
“The cops are only good when they can’t arrest you for trespassing.” Greg pointed out. I cursed under my breath; I had forgotten that even if we did find bodies we’d probably be charged with something. I just groaned, curiosity taking over and following the beam of his flashlight into the darkness. It was a bit nerve racking, both in front of us and behind us were completely dark, as if the world of light just dropped off like that. Suddenly the cavern opened up again, it looked like a small room or something, but it wasn’t a comfort or anything.
“John look!” Greg hissed, shining his light at the wall. And there, to my absolute horror, was a rotting, cobweb filled bookshelf, desk, and even a chair.
“Oh my god someone has been down here.” I muttered, not wanting to get any closer.
“How do you even get a bookshelf down here?” Greg wondered, walking closer.
“Greg don’t go by it!” I said suddenly, making him stop in his tracks. The whole thing gave me the creeps, who knows who put this down here and why, it only adds onto the creepy stories hovering around these caves.
“Don’t be such a girl John.” he laughed, walking up and shining the light on the shelf. There were numerous rotting books, some of the titles readable but most covered in mold and dust.
“Oh jeez, someone definitely had problems.” He decided.
“Why?” I asked quickly, staying where I was.
“There’s a copy here on disembowelment.” He said as if that was funny or something. It only filled me with more fear, looking all around once again for any hostiles.
“Greg really, we should go, if the person who owned this was interesting in disembowelment they obviously were a bit messed up.” I insisted. Now even the promise of gold couldn’t convince me, it was dangerous to be down here, and I was willing to bet my life was just fine without a professional basketball team.
“Oh come on John, a couple more minutes, we could eat down here if you want.” He insisted.
“I think we’ll be getting eaten if we stay.” I insisted.
“Come look.” Greg insisted. “There’s no spiders if that’s what you’re scared of.” He added, now looking around the desk. There was nothing on it, just some rotting pieces of blank parchment. I walked closer, looking at the wood as if it were supposed to be interesting.
“That’s great, now can we please go?” I begged.
“Oh, there’s a drawer.” He said excitedly, looking at a rusty metal handle on the bottom.
“I absolutely forbid you to open that!” I exclaimed, taking a huge step back and gripping my flashlight tight, as if the light would stop a ghost from eating my face off. Greg smiled mischievously; putting his hand on the handle and sliding it open with some effort. It creaked loudly, making me terrified that someone might hear, but nothing jumped out of the drawer or the shadows.
“What is it?” I asked as Greg looked inside.
“I guess you’ll have to come find out.” he teased.
“It’s empty isn’t it?” I asked.
“No, not empty, there’s something.” he assured.
“Just tell me!” I demanded, but Greg smiled and I knew he wouldn’t speak until I went over there and looked. I took a deep breath, telling myself that nothing could hurt me in there; I’d be just fine, time to be a man. I walked over and peered inside the drawer, and he was right, it wasn’t empty. There was a single black book, looking, compared to the rest, almost new. It was leather bound and didn’t look any different except for the letters carved in gold writing, W.S.S.H.
“What does that mean?” I asked nervously.
“Initials probably.” Greg guessed, picking the book out of the drawer.
“Don’t touch it, it could be dangerous!” I insisted, but Greg just laughed.
“Of come on, a book can’t be dangerous.” He insisted, setting his flashlight down and flipping through the pages. Dust flew up at him, but really it wasn’t much, that book must have been undisturbed I guess.
“Empty.” He sighed. I had to admit that was a bit disappointing, if we could’ve unearthed the psychopath and his motives it would’ve been pretty awesome. He handed it to me, as if I should investigate myself, and I flipped through it with one hand and found that he was right. The thick pages were completely empty.
“Can we go now?” I asked pleadingly. He opened his mouth to say something, but there was a loud creak from the bookshelf, cutting off whatever he was about to stay and making my blood run cold.
“What was that?” I asked in a small, squeaky voice.
“Probably nothing, wind?” he suggested.
“Wind down here?” I pointed out. And then a loud noise echoed off the rocks, if I wasn’t mistaken it sounded just like a loud scream. I looked at Greg for one moment, but this time he looked just as terrified as I felt. It didn’t take long for me to take off, I didn’t really care if there were spiders anymore, my feet were racing as fast as they could go, running from who knows what but knowing I had to get out of there. My body was filled with the terror adrenalin, my heart pumping out of my chest. We might die in here; die at the hands of a psychopath that was educated in disembowelment. Greg was right behind me, his flashlight shining in front of me and bobbing up and down as he pumped his arms. I practically jumped through the hole in the wall, scrambling over the rocks to my feet, running to the sunlight as fast as I could. Greg and I burst through the opening into the dusk, rolling under the gate and grabbing our bikes, jumping on them and peddling as fast as we could down the dirt road and back to my house, collapsing on the front lawn and throwing our bikes to the side. I gasped for breath, even though it had only been some running and biking it felt like I had just won the Iron Man Marathon, my entire body ached but I was just happy to get out of there in one piece. The sun was just sinking down, bathing the horizon in oranges and yellows, the stars just starting to peak through the clouds.
“That definitely wasn’t the wind!” I pointed out, sitting up in the cool grass, thankful for natural light. Greg was already sitting, white as a sheet, his smile wiped completely from his face.
“Oh my god that was terrifying.” He agreed, taking a deep breath and checking that there wasn’t anyone watching us. I nodded, clicking off my flashlight but found that the book was still clutched in my hands. I yelped, throwing it down the lawn where it fell near the road. I looked at Greg in horror, not knowing what to do with it. It probably belonged to the murderer, when we picked it up was when we heard the scream.
“What did you take it for?!” Greg hissed.
“I didn’t realize I did, I just kind of took it and ran!” I defended. We both stared at the book, looking falsely innocent lying under the stars.
“What do we do?” I asked nervously.
“Burn it!” Greg decided.
“We can’t burn it, what if he comes after us?” I defended.
“He’s dead, what can he do?” Greg pointed out.
 “He can obviously scream and scare two teenagers out of their bloody minds!” I pointed out. We couldn’t destroy it, that was too risky, but what to do? 
“John is that you? Come in honey, you’re late!” My mom’s voice called from behind the screen door. I cursed in my head, but I didn’t dare to out loud, my mom might here. What was I supposed to say about my dirty clothes and terror stricken face?
“I’ll see you late mate.” Greg decided, getting to his feet and grabbing his bike, peddling away before my mother could question him as well. I got up also, grabbing the book from the road with extreme care, as if I had to keep it in mint condition or the previous owner would come back and haunt me. I rolled my bike into the garage and slung my backpack over my shoulder, walking up to the door and smiling at my mother. She looked worried, pulling her robe around herself with a frown.
“Where have you been?” she demanded.
“We were in the park.” I said simply.
“Why are you all dirty?” she added. I sighed, trying to look innocent.
“There were some guys there that started causing trouble, so we got out of there through some bushes. Sorry, I know we were supposed to be back soon but I guess we got caught up.” I muttered, which was sort of true, if you looked really deep into the lie. There was some nervous silence; I really hoped she bought the lie because it was the best I could come up with in the split second I had to think.
“Oh dear, I’m so sorry, are you okay?” she asked after what seemed like an eternity.
“Both of us were fine, but just a little bit shaken up I guess.” I decided. She opened the door for me, letting me in and brushing some of the dirt off of my back.
“You go wash off; I’ll make you some tea.” She decided, bustling off to the kitchen. I threw my backpack on the floor of the living room, where Harry was still sitting on the couch, the TV off but her phone on. It looked like she hadn’t moved since I left.
“Hey Harry.” I said tauntingly. She didn’t look up or respond; in fact I doubted she actually heard me. I walked off to my room, setting the book cautiously down on my own dresser, making sure there wasn’t anything touching it. I cautiously grabbed my pajamas and went into the bathroom, having a quick shower and wandering back into the living room. When I got out there my mother had four mugs of tea on the coffee table, Harry was sipping one and my mother was. My dad was in his armchair, reclined back and sipping a beer once again. I approached with caution, worried that he might be drunk, but he just stared at the TV. They were watching Wheel of Fortune, which I knew wouldn’t last much longer once football comes on the other channels.  I grabbed a mug and sat alone on one of the smaller, two people couches. My mom called it a love seat, but I don’t think the name applies to sitting alone in it. My heart rate was back to normal but I just couldn’t focus on Tracy, who was now spinning the wheel again and picking a vowel. My thoughts were on the book lying on my dresser, wondering why I didn’t just burry it, why I brought in the house where it could kill me and my family while we slept. Of course Greg bailed as soon as possible, not only was he scared of my mom when she was angry but that whole cave incident brought out the true baby in him. He was never one to run, he was always he type to face his demons and have the last laugh. No one was laughing now.
“I think I’m going to go to bed.” I decided as my dad popped the cap off another bottle.
“Good night sweetie.” My mom said, the rest of the family didn’t really notice I was gone. I then walked back to my room, scowling at my full school backpack, ready for the first day of my junior year of high school. My outfit was laid out too, just regular jeans and a hoodie, but my mom insisted they be new and fresh, new year new clothes as she said. I glanced at the book, which hadn’t moved since I last saw it. Half of me had been expecting it to be gone; the other half thinking there would be a dead psychopath with a knife hiding in my closet. The thought made me shiver, and I looked at my closet suspiciously. The doors were closed, I didn’t know what I expected to find, but I creeped over and threw the door open. The only thing scary in there was how much unwashed clothes were overflowing out of my laundry basket. I closed the door again, putting a chair under the handles just in case. If there was a psychopath coming for my head, I wanted to be prepared. Nevertheless I had to get some sleep eventually, school was tomorrow and I didn’t want to be half asleep for the first day. So I snuggled underneath my covers, pulling them up to my chin and trying my best to fall asleep when I knew the book was on the dresser. So ends summer vacation.