The River's Bottom

     As she went into the dark, tight basement, she searched for the lights. It was pitch black. She was there to look for her broom since she was going to sweep the house. She ran her fingers along the rough wall. She felt a slight bump and pressed on it. The basement room flashed brightly. It had blinded her for a few seconds until her eyes adjusted to the bright lighting. She squinted at first scanning the room for the broom. She saw a red stick at the corner of the room next to shovels and walked towards it. Once she obtained the broom, she was making her way back to the stairs until the lights turned off and the door slammed shut with a loud bang. She immediately lost her grip on the broom and she fell to the floor. She curled up while starting to bawl her eyes out. She couldn't hear anything and the silence was so loud that it scared her. She suddenly remembered about her "friends" pushing her into a box and shutting it tightly along with a lock. She was screaming but couldn't move at all. She couldn't even pound on the box to let them know that she was desperate to get out.They kept on repeating that it was a joke and that they would take her out immediately. She also remembered how they screamed in panic because they lost the key to the chain. At that point she lost all her reason and started screaming louder than her lungs allowed. They ran away to get an adult while she was still stuck in that dark, tight box. It had been a whole day before she heard someone shout and pound on the box. When they opened the box, the sunlight blinded her eyes. She felt relief that she was out again, but her eyes started to slowly close. There was a lack of oxygen since there were only a few holes in the box that allowed air to go in and out. She had to spend a week in the hospital after that and was obviously traumatized. Right now she is screaming and crying while remembering the feeling of being trapped in the box as a little kid. Suddenly, the lights flashed back on. She saw her shadow and knew that it was okay to look up. She wanted to get out immediately and have nothing to do with the basement ever again. However, when she tried standing, her legs were trembling too much to hold her weight. She stumbled to the ground with tears building up in her eyes again. She feared the thought of the lights going out again. She looked at her hands and they were also severely trembling. She knew that it would be worse if she didn't get out right now. She put one arm further in front of her head and laid down. She put the other arm further than the first and tried making it an anchor. When she did that, she tried her best to pull herself further. To her surprise, it had worked but only for a few inches. She shook her head and banged her hand into the ground out of frustration. She let her head fall to the ground. She started to pant once again but looked up to her hands with a determined look. Her hair was a mess falling down to the ground and some in front of her face. She put her right arm ahead and pulled. Then her left arm pulled. She felt the dirt pile up on her arms and the rest of her body, but she couldn't care less. Soon she reached the first step of the stairs. She looked down at the floor panting and sweat dripping down from her forehead down the side of her cheeks and finally resting at her chin before falling down to the floor. She looked up and her eyes widened. At the basement door, she saw a red painted heart. It looked fresh and was sliding down the door. That was definitely not there earlier especially since she would never paint a door that was brand new. The door was super expensive and someone just painted on it like it was nothing. She slightly stood up and reached for the hand railing with her right hand. Once she grabbed onto the railing, she tightened her grip to ensure that she wouldn't let go and go tumbling down the stairs. She proceeded to climb up the stairs slowly and with great caution. When she reached the top of the stairs, she grabbed the door handle. When she grabbed it, she felt a sudden shock throughout her body. She tried to let go, but it was as if her hands were glued onto the doorknob. Her eyelids turned heavy and as she started to close them, she felt the doorknob move. She saw a dark figure in front of her, but couldn't make out the face that they had. She felt her body lose all her strength and moved backwards, falling towards the stairs, but before she fell, someone's hands had grabbed onto her waist and pulled her up towards their chest. She could hear their heartbeat beating slow and steady and then she passed out.

     She slowly awoke to the sound of a car engine rumbling fiercely. However, she did not wake up in the front passenger seat or the back seat. Instead, she awoke somewhere dark and cramped. Panic arose once again until the car hit a bumper and she flew up and hit her head on the top of the car. It seemed to be like the trunk of the car that she was in. She tried to reach out to the roof of the trunk but realized her hands were tied tightly. There was a chain on her wrists that kept her from separating them. She tried moving her legs but they were also tied up. The car came to a sudden stop causing her to roll over to the other side of the trunk. She heard a door open and then slam shut. She looked around frantically for any sign of a weapon that she could use. The trunk clinked and then creaked open. She saw the same figure that had opened the door to her basement appear in front of her once again. She stared at them with her eyes wide open and tried to talk, except that her mouth was taped shut. She moved her wrists toward her mouth to remove the tape but then the person grabbed her hands harshly and pulled her up. He slid one hand under her knees and the other on her back, carrying her in a princess carry position but it was not romantic at all. She looked around to see where they were and saw that they were on a highway late at night with no cars around and only a river underneath. The person carried her to the edge of the highway rail and sat her on it. When she also turned around to look at them, she saw who they were. They had an awful grin plastered on their face. She clearly saw, under the full moon, that it was none other than her male best friend. "If you can't even look at me once because of that awful piece of trash that you are going out with, then it would be better for no one to look at you anymore. Right?" he said without showing fear or worry. Before she could shake her head no, she felt hands on her back and they pushed her. She turned towards the water and immediately teared up. She tried to scream as loud as her lungs could, but the tape was prohibiting her from doing so. She hit the water with a hard thud. The pain from hitting the water suddenly, paralyzed her. She could not turn and only faced the bottom of the river. Her lungs were demanding air and forced her to breath in which made her take in water and fill her lungs. She wanted to cough and swim up to safety but she could do nothing. She was there helpless like a newborn baby that had been abandoned by their parents in the cold winter month. The water made her eyes shut themselves due to the pebbles that were floating around and stabbing her eyes. Everything went black and she felt motionless. There was no live heart that was beating. There were no lungs contracting. There were no eyes blinking. There was nothing alive in her anymore. She was just there, lifeless at the bottom of the river.