A Collection of Short Stories

The Door to the Basement

Written: 8-24-21

She crossed her fingers and opened the door. Suddenly, she heard her mother call her name. Elizabeth gasped and quickly closed the door. Her Mom was supposed to be gone for a business meeting and had left a couple of minutes prior. Why was she back so quickly? And right when she was about to find out-

"Elizabeth" Her thoughts were interrupted by her mother's voice. She turned her head only to see her Mom standing next to her.

"You're back early," El said sheepishly. Her Mom opened her mouth to say something, but she paused. Her eyes trailed over to the door and then back to Elizabeth.

"Why are you in front of the door?" Her mother asked as she crossed her arms and gave her daughter a stern look. Elizabeth racked her mind for an answer and gave the first one she could think of.

"I was heading to the bathroom when you called me," She explained. Luckily for her, the bathroom was in fact next to the door so her Mother believed her. "But, why are you here? The business meeting couldn't have been over that quick"

"I left some important papers that were in my office" The Mom answered as she walked past her daughter and into the office. A minute later she walked back out and went towards the front door. "El...?"

"Yes?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Don't go in the basement, please" Her Mom said, Elizabeth was unable to read her expression.

"Of course, I won't. Like I said before I just need to use the bathroom" El brushed off her mother's concern and walked to the restroom to make her story more believable.

She waited in the room until she heard her mother's car drive away and could see her car leaving through the bathroom window. Elizabeth let out a relieved sigh. She had almost been caught, but that wouldn't stop her from finding out what her Mom had been hiding down there all these years.

She strode over to the door and opened it confidently. She poked her head in and was immediately hit with the smell of mold and dust. She gagged and wondered how it could have possibly gotten to smell so gross and she had never smelt it when walking past.

She pulled her hoodie over her mouth and nose, then proceeded to walk down the creaky stairs. It was definitely a risky move, the stairs were old and wet, seeming like they would collapse under her at any moment.

Something must have flooded the basement, otherwise how else could it be this wet? She reached the bottom of the stairs and was disappointed, to say the least. It just looked like a regular old basement. Nothing creepy, or haunted, or anything of value like she had hoped. Her Mom probably didn't want her down there due to the state of the room. With a disappointed huff, she turned back towards the stairs but stopped in her tracks when she heard a voice.

"Elizabeth..." The voice called. She began to panic, thinking it must've been her mother's voice. She was so grounded. "El..." This voice was NOT her mothers, El decided. The voice was a man's and it sounded drained. Like, whatever it was hadn't spoken in years.

"Hello?" El asked. There was no response. Was it all in her head? "Is anyone there?"

"Over here" The voice replied. "Follow my voice" She had a feeling that this wasn't a good idea, but her curiosity got the best of her. She followed the voice and found a small closet. She knocked on the door lightly. "YES!" El gasped and jumped away from the door. "Open the door, El"

She creaked open the door and found a box sitting in the closet. She knelt down and traced her hands over the black case. It was so dusty you could barely see the words carved into it. B.M

"B.M?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Yes, those are my initials, child" The voice replied. A chill went down El's spine.

"Are you...Are you in the box?" She questioned. The voice responded with a chuckle and El gulped. Her mind imagined the worst. A dismembered body, all of its body parts stuffed in a case and left to rot.

"No, no, no" The voice stated. She was surprised and confused as to how he knew what she was thinking. "I can assure you there are no human body parts in here"

"Then what is?" She questioned nervously. She felt a nudge on her shoulder, the hand extremely cold. But when she looked, there was nothing.

"You'll just have to open the box to find out" The voice stated. She didn't want to, she suddenly felt sick to her stomach. This whole thing was a bad idea, why did she even want to do this?

"I shouldn't. My Mom doesn't want me down here" El denied as she pushed herself away from the case.

"Yes, but have you ever wondered why she didn't want you down here?" The voice questioned. "Just open the box"

She placed her hands on the locks and flipped both of them up. She let out a shaky breath and pushed open the box. 

(That's all I had time to write in class that day. Hope you enjoyed it! As always have a good day/night! TOODLES!!!)