Power Cut - #JustWriteIt Wattys2015

Nine

The lights below me flickered on and off, snapping me out of my daze. Probably just a power cut, nothing to worry about. Where was I anyway? I looked around and found myself sitting on an old wooden staircase. As always, I was alone. I had never been the type of person to have any friends. Most of the time I just wandered around aimlessly, lost within my own thoughts. I had found myself in all sorts of places, however this was new. Rarely did I find myself inside buildings, but then again, I had wandered off to all sorts of places. It's surprising I haven't wandered in front of a truck or off a bridge yet.

I stood up and took in my surroundings, clearly I was in a very old place, the smell of rotting wood filled my nose. I walked down the hallway, my footsteps echoing eerily throughout the silent house. The floorboards creaked and moaned beneath my feet, the ghoulish sounds piercing the unnatural silence. As I made my way down the hallway, I spotted a large flight of stairs, clearly leading to the lower floors. I assumed that the way out would be down there, and headed down.

The entire house was covered with dust and cobwebs, adding to the unnatural feeling of abandonment. Clearly no one had lived here for many, many years. So how had I gotten here? Where was I? I got to the bottom of the stairs and found myself by the entrance hallway. It was time I headed home, who knows how long I had been here. As I made my way towards the front door however, I heard a loud thud above me.

What was that? Surely nobody else was here, so what could have made that noise? I was all alone, wasn't I?

I suppose I could investigate, it's not like I have anything better to do. I made my way back up the creaky wooden stairs, back up to the second floor. As I made my way up, the light bulb above me blew out, leaving that room in darkness. It was clearly an old house, I was surprised the lights were even working in the first place. Once again I heard the noise, thud, thud, thud, coming from right above me.

What was that? Some sort of animal, a rat maybe? It seemed too big to just be a rodent.

I raced up the stairs, now intrigued and slightly worried. Flicker, Flicker, Flicker. The lights continued to flash on and off, further adding to the eerie atmosphere. But when I got back up to the second floor, the noises had stopped. Had I just imagined it? Surely not, I was certain I had heard something. I decided to take a proper look around, maybe I could figure out more about where I was, and what that noise had been. I made my way down the hallway into the first room, and found no clues as to where I was or any source for the noise. I searched a few more rooms and found myself in a bedroom.

There was nothing there, just a bed and an empty bookshelf. The whole room was covered in a thick layer of dust, except for the bed. It looked as if something had jumped off it recently, perhaps whatever had caused the noise? I looked more closely and could see patches of floor without any dirt, leading towards the open window. As I looked out the window I noticed a balcony below, so I jumped out the window and landed on it. Looking around, it seemed almost as if the house was in some sort of cave.

Where on Earth was I? How far away was town? How long had I been here?

I looked around more and came to the realization that across from my balcony was another, with only a small gap between them. Surely I could make the jump. I decided to give it a go. I stood up on the balcony railing, and with a leap of faith found myself safely on the opposing balcony. I looked into the room that this balcony connected to, it was a massive library! If I needed information, surely that was the best way to find it. I made my way into the library and looked around at the shelves. Down on the first floor I noticed that one of the shelves had been pushed back into the wall.

A passageway perhaps?

I made my way down the library stairs towards the first floor the lights above me flickering as I walked. Flicker, Flicker, Flicker. Once again I took no notice of the lights, and made my way to the potential hidden passageway. When I got to the shelf I realized that my assumptions had been correct. The entire shelf had been on rails, except now it had been knocked off. Behind the shelf I could see a flight of stairs leading up to another floor. I stood still and listened for any hints that the thing that made the noises had gone up there. After a few minutes of intense listening, I heard a light thud from up the top of the stairs. I quickly made my way up the stairs, towards the source of the noise. When on the landing, I found myself in another hallway, smaller than the first one. I made my way from room to room, looking for clues and listening for any noises as I went. The first room I came to was filled with old boxes, each of these piled to the top with assorted junk. There was a hole in the ceiling too, but there was no way I would be able to get up there. I walked back into the hallway and as I made my way towards the next room I heard another thud coming from the other end of the hallway. I made my way towards the source of the sound, the lights continued to flicker behind me.

Flicker, Flicker, Flicker.

At the end of the hallway was a window, with a chair beneath it. Maybe the thing went out there? I walk towards the closed window, and try to force it open but it wouldn't budge. After a brief moment of struggling I came to the conclusion that whatever the thing was, it certainly hadn't left through there.

As I walked back down the hallway I heard the noise once again, now from the other side of the hall. Perhaps I was wrong, maybe there was nothing causing the noise. It was clearly an old house, maybe those were just the noises old houses made as they settled. Outside I could hear the ghoulish moans as the wind whipped around the house.

The moans turned to screams, horrible, terrified screams. I could distinctly hear as a young female voice cried out for help, while another, this one a male, warned for me to get out.

Help, Help Me, please...... GET OUT! GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!

I shook my head and the screaming ceased, returning to the noise of the howling wind. I was going crazy. I mean, I'd thought I had heard voices before, but this was something else. I was terrified now, and began to run down the hallway. But I came to my senses, what could possibly be here? There was nothing to worry about.

Still slightly on edge, I made my way into another room, and as I walked in the door slammed shut behind me. I struggled with the door, but no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn't open. I could hear footsteps now, growing ever closer to where I was.

Then the light above my head began to flicker. Flicker, Flicker, Flicker.

Please no. Of all times, why must now be the time for there to be a power cut?