𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 // 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒔

withered away

A/N: hiii i wrote this for a short story in class and wanted to share it on here!! sorry for the cringy title it was the only thing i could thing of early in the morning :/

Asra stared up at the large building ahead of her, shivering as a burst of wind swept by. Once, this place had been a center stone of life, but now it was just desolate and sad. The church was made of old stone, covered and hidden by trees and vines. The steps leading up to the empty building were breaking apart, bugs crawling along them. One last time, she checked her backpack for everything she needed and opened the door.

She barely had any time to step inside the old church before the assaulting smell of vinegar made its way to her nostrils. It made her gag, but she continued. Asra looked around, searching for anything of note. She didn't find anything at first glance, and soon the stench of vinegar was much too strong for her.

It was horrible, the smell. So horrible in fact that it made her run out the building, gagging and coughing at it. Okay. That was horrible, she thought to herself. She needed fresh air, away from the sad, old, smelly building. And so, she began to walk.

The walk was peaceful, the streets empty this late at night. Asra turned to her right, entering the park that was eerily quiet without people to inhabit it. She placed her backpack down onto the bench, and caught text out of the corner of her eye. On the bench, an engraving revealed that it was a memorial for the four people who had gone missing, and presumably died, the year prior. She took a moment of silence in honor of them, and then made her way back to the house.

Before she re-entered the building, Asra prepared herself again for the smell. It would still be horrible, but maybe some mental preparation would make it a little easier to manage. As she entered, the smell made another attempt to ward her off. It didn't work this time, and she continued into the abandoned building.

Upon entering, she realized many bowls, that didn't quite belong, littered the floor. They were strangely modern, contrasting with the slightly edwardian-style building. As weird as it was, it didn't alarm her too much. A homeless person probably stayed here for warmth and shelter, her mind said. Along with that, people broke in all the time, she was an example of that.

Nothing much else was of note, besides the fact she'd have to be careful where she stepped. Along with the bowls, both broken and not, the old pews of the church were chipped, some with edges so sharp they could likely be used to stab someone. She inched forward, taking extra time to avoid the bowls and pews. As she reached the Tabernacle, she noticed something odd. She said to herself, That wall looks strangely like a door.

Asra gave it a little nudge, hoping to find something exciting, and she wasn't disappointed. The old door creakily gave way and fell off the hinges. It tumbled down a wooden set of stairs, luckily, and surprisingly, not breaking any steps during its descent.

The venture down into the hidden basement was less than thrilling, as the air became stickier and smelt more and more of rot. Floorboards creaked beneath her, and the walls were shrouded with cobwebs. Once she finally reached the bottom of the stairs, the air tasted like rotting food. She pointed her flashlight further to the wall and gasped.

There, shoved against the wall, were four half-decomposed bodies. The limbs were mangled and broken, some tangled between other bodies. Bruises and cuts covered the parts of the bodies where skin was still visible. It was disgusting. It was putrid. It was as stomach-churning as anything could get. Vomit threaten to escape her lips, but she swallowed it back down. She ran up the stairs, and it seemed as though her legs couldn't catch up with her want to get out of there. Asra's thick curls fell in front of her face, but she didn't push them back like she normally would. Hair in her face didn't matter, she just wanted to get out of the basement as quickly as humanly possible.

The wind picked up outside, causing trees to hit noisily against the window. The loud sounds combined with the images of rotting bodies and spiraling thoughts overwhelmed Asra, but her legs were moving at the speed of light.

Before she knew it, she was out onto the empty street and running towards the empty park. As she did so, her mind slowed the slightest bit, allowing for some actual thoughts to enter. Who were those people? How long had they down there? Did I know about them? Her mind and thoughts circled with the same few questions, with no answers to be found. Asra found herself collapsing onto a bench, not bothering to take off her backpack.

She sobbed, her mind not fully processing what she had seen until that very moment. Those poor souls, she thought, their bodies lying there with no way to find closure after death. And their families, too. Asra stayed there for what felt like days before finally sitting up and preparing to go home. She turned to leave, and the engraving on the bench caught her eye for the second time that night.

As if a giant lightbulb went off in her head, Asra remembered the number of bodies in the basement and the number of people that went missing last fall. She thought, It might be a coincidence, but I want to be sure. And with that, she sent herself sprinting to the police station.

Luckily for Asra, no matter the time she got there, she would be able to walk in. The police station in her area was open every day, all day, even on most holidays. As she walked in, the woman working at the front desk greeted her. Asra waved, but it was only to be polite. She rushed to the front desk, hoping that nothing would get in her way.

Asra asked quietly, barely audible, "Is there any way I could talk to you about the missing people from last year?"