Mary

Chapter Five - Our deepest fears

Opening the heavy door, we stumble inside, illuminating everything. Noticing a break in the dirt wall, I turn the corner, misstepping back against the dirt walls. Four gravestones were dug in line with dead flowers placed on each. Shivers rushed up my back as I tried to regain my thoughts. Simply lifting my hand, I point over, unable to speak any words.

"Baby, is he here?" whispered Betty, with Kiki behind her.

Confused and worried, they walked forward as the partly damaged gravestones were noticed.

Sliding onto the floor, I bury my head as my whole body begins to shake. Trying to get the image out of my mind by looking away.

"Oh no, baby listen to me; let's just look around and leave; we will get out soon, I promise," reassured Betty hugging me tightly.

Stuttering, only a few words managed to leave my mouth. "O-okay, bear."

Taking a minute to gain composure, I got up with the help of my girlfriend.

"Holy shit, what did we just find?" asked Kiki, still looking at the graves.

Scanning the grimy walls, Kiki noticed a half-broken light switch, the wire running above us. We stayed quiet in case any animals or the figure was hiding in another room. Gesturing to flick it on when I say so, we counted down from three. A faint buzzing sound brushed our ears as light lit up the small room as Kiki flicked it.

"I don't have any good feelings about this guy," Betty spoke slowly.

As the flicking of her lights filled the room, a group of objects caught our attention. Little did we know things would only get more disturbing from this point. What looked like pieces of paper were pinned all over the rotting wooden cabinets and metal table. Not wanting to waste time, we each looked at different parts. Betty and I were at the drawings, and Kiki was over by the sink filled with dirty dishes.

"This must have been here for years like someone could live down here for ages," Betty said.

"They just left everything here, too," replied Kiki, turning on the tap.

"Guys, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked.

Standing beside us saw a drawing of 4 girls and a man. Unfortunately, the picture had partly faded, preventing us from seeing what it all said. The realization hit us; this wasn't just an unusual underground room. But whoever killed the young girls kept them down here for long periods.

"I think I'm going to throw up... guys, we need to get going soon," explained my disgusted girlfriend.

"We will; let's just read the graves and see what is around the corner," responded Kiki as we walked back over.

"Baby, let me read them, okay? Just keep a lookout," said Betty, gently kissing me.

Standing by the door, I made sure to stay quiet so that if any sound came from the tunnel, we would hear it.

"Guys, each of these graves has girls' names from different years; who and why are they here."

The gravestone read, "Jensen, 1998; she had pretty eyes; I loved her so much."

Whoever this person was, they had a highly twisted way of caring about people. Pulling out her phone, she took photos of each one. Recorded a video of all we saw to make sure we had evidence. The atmosphere felt more humid as we realized almost an hour had passed. Noticing what looked like another room beside us, it was time to face whatever was in there.

"I'll go first, then Barry, then Betty, okay?" ordered Kiki, grabbing her crowbar from the table.

Agreeing, my panic attack calmed down as I could finally speak again. Illuminating the hall with our flashlights, the wooden door was only a few meters away. However, something felt off, the entire feeling becoming something we were all feeling. Using her strength from working out every day, the heavily rusted lock soon dropped onto the floor. Creaking filling the space behind Lena as the door swung open. A putrid smell of something dead rolled past, forcing us to gag.