The Boy with Words for Skin

Chapter 18: Into the Basement

Kit stared. After a few seconds, she shook her head. "No, Words."

The thought of going into the basement with whatever was down there was terrifying, but I was even more scared of letting her go down there. I realized she probably wasn't technically safe from that thing if she was in the house—especially if it had been walking around at night—but I couldn't let her go down there. 

"You don't have to go," she said.

I nodded. "I know. But I am."

She shook her head and seemed to come out of her daze a little bit. "But what are you going to do down there?" she asked. "What's your plan?"

"And what would be your plan?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Go downstairs. Find Porcelain. Find Face and Tang. Make sure they're okay."

"And what if you run into . . . whatever made all that noise?"

She stood up and went to the counter, limping from when she fell and smashed her knee. "I'd run. But if it caught me—" She pulled open a drawer, reached inside, and pulled out a butcher's knife. She turned back to me. "—I'd do my best to make sure it was sorry it did."

She was trying to be strong and confident, but she was shaking.

I looked at the knife in her hand. If the thing in the basement was as big as it sounded, using that knife on it would be like trying to kill a buffalo with a fork. It was stupid to be so brave with such a little weapon. But I couldn't let her go down there.

"Sounds like a plan to me," I said. I stood up.          

She looked over my shoulder to make sure no one else had followed us. "I should go, Words. It's all my fault."

"What? How?"

"I've heard it walking around. At night."

My mouth fell open. So, others had heard it! I couldn't believe she hadn't said anything.

"It's been coming up once or twice a week for a while. And when I heard the growl, I knew it wasn't the heater turning on. It was that thing."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I don't know!" She waved her hands. The blade of the knife swung in the air. "No one else said anything about it and I didn't want to scare anyone. No one had been hurt, so I thought maybe I was dreaming or getting paranoid or something. It seemed better to try and ignore it."

"Boy's heard it."

She stared at me.

"And Mair, too."

"You knew? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I've never heard it. Boy told me about it. I just thought he was having nightmares or something. And Mair, well, he didn't tell anyone because he was trying to pray it away. He said he was trying to keep everyone safe with his faith. He just told me about it this morning."

"Has anyone else heard it?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. No one's said anything about it to me."

"But it's so loud! That's why I thought I was making it up or something. If it was real, everyone should've heard it!"

"Maybe they were too scared. Or they thought they were dreaming, too. We need to ask them." I went to her and took the knife out of her hand. I set it on the counter. "But none of this is your fault."

She hugged me and I hugged her back. We held each other for a moment that felt protected from absolutely everything.

When she pulled away, she looked me in the eyes. "If we're going to do this, we better do this right."