The Dark Depths: The Cellar

Chapter 8: Lucky

Thomas stood there, paralyzed with fear, anticipating the approach of a hideous monstrosity that roamed around him. He couldn't see the creature, but he could hear it. When it moved, the blood that filled this portion of the cellar sloshed violently. Rapidly. He could hear its almost exact movements.

Sloshsloshsloshslosh, a long pause, sloooosshhh....sloooosshhh, another pause. It repeated like this, over and over and over again. Thomas didn't know why the creature hadn't attacked already, it was close enough to him that it could, and with the way that his fear paralyzed him, he was easy prey. Then, Thomas wondered, "What if it can't attack me. What if, it's like a rat....in a maze." Thomas decided, regrettably, to test his hypothesis. He reached down to the blood and made a violent sloshing noise, quick but loud. Suddenly, the creature audibly stopped, and only light movement could be heard. Then, moving in a different direction than before, it continued rapidly. Thomas was right, it DID know its way around, but it didn't know where he was until he made noise. Thomas and the creature were in a liquid maze, the creature was the mouse, and Thomas was the cheese.

Thomas quickly looked around, trying to see if he could find something to throw. There was nothing small or light enough to throw, then Thomas got an idea he didn't like. There was nothing to throw, nothing except, unfortunately, the flashlight.

"The battery," he thought, "if I throw the battery instead of the flashlight, I'll be able to distract this thing while keeping my only way to see. There have to be more batteries in this damned cellar" He shined the flashlight to get an idea of the direction he wanted to go, then he quickly unscrewed the end of the flashlight and pulled out the battery. "Here goes." He thought, and with a deep breath, he threw the battery.

The large D battery splashed in the distance. For a moment, there was silence. Then suddenly, and seemingly more aggressive than before, the creature began rapidly making its way through the maze, towards the noise. Determined to get out of this nightmare, Thomas slowly waded in the direction he'd chosen, making sure to be as quiet as possible. Luckily, the creature seemed too preoccupied with the sounds the battery had made.

After several agonizing minutes of slowly moving in darkness, Thomas bumped into something, "A desk?" He thought, feeling in front of him. He felt an immense wave of relief, and couldn't help but think the end must be near. This feeling was short-lived, however, as a very terrifying fact soon became clear. The cellar had gone quiet.

Thomas listened. He could hear his heartbeat. His blood rushed through the veins in his ears. His breathing grew rapid and his chest tightened. Then, from out of the darkness came a voice.

"I...can't see you....Thomas. Where....are you....Thomas?" It sounded almost human. So much so that Thomas even went to answer, but stopped for a moment to think.

"There hasn't been any sign of another person in the cellar," He thought as he  slowly, and quietly pulled himself onto the desk, "And I'm pretty sure I didn't hear anyone approach." He stood, taking a moment to catch his balance as the desk wobbled, "That thing can talk!"

The silence was once again broken, but this time it was by Thomas, with the blood below making an almost inaudible sloshing noise. But that was enough. Suddenly, the creature shrieked, causing Thomas to cover his ears. He could tell the creature was close to catching him, he could feel the cold wetness of the blood droplets as the creature made its way through the maze around him.

There was a light tap on the desk, and Thomas believed the creature had found him. He removed his hands from his ears only to hear the creature still in pursuit. Confused, and somewhat desperate, Thomas reached down to feel what the object was. The battery, it must've landed near here when he threw it. He quickly picked it up and shoved it into his flashlight, moving at speeds he didn't believe himself capable.

"Come on damnit!" He screamed in his mind as he fumbled in the dark with the battery. He was so preoccupied with the light that, when the loud sounds of bone crunching and flesh ripping had started, he simply didn't hear them.

Click. "Yes!" He triumphantly exclaimed in his mind. Having successfully fixed the flashlight, Thomas immediately flicked it on. The cellar was silent once more, and it didn't take long for Thomas to find the creature now that he could see.

It stood before him, not two feet away, on its hind legs. It was so tall that its head touched the ceiling. Thomas waited, knowing death was simply a step away. But a few moments passed in which nothing occurred. Then, before Thomas could make an official decision to move, the creature collapsed. In its back, running along the length of the creature's spine, was the same gas-line pipe he was attached to when this all started. He even recognized the break at the top. Where had it come from? And what could have used it? Thomas decided not to stay long enough to find out and immediately began walking the way he'd been going before the creature appeared.

"I need to get out of here. Please just let me leave." He pleaded in his mind, seemingly to nothing, desperation eating at him more and more with every step. Soon, he was free from the maze of blood and furniture, a new question looming over his mind. What killed that thing? How did he not hear it approach? He leaned over, hands on his knees, "Deep breaths, Thomas. Deep breaths."