Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Pt.1

    Chloe trotted down the stairs towards the kitchen as the scent of bacon called to her. She moved faster down each step before jumping off the last. Nearly whipping out on the doormat, she steadied herself and turned to the kitchen. Her mother Beth was standing at the stove with a spatula in one hand and a smartphone in the other. Chloe rushed to her favorite chair and began to salivate over the sound of sizzling bacon and eggs.
    "Ahh and there's the birthday girl herself, would you like to say hi to your aunt Tracey," Beth said as she pressed the button to change it to a video call.
    "Happy birthday Sunflower!" Tracy cheered as she looked at her niece through the camera. Sunflower was what she always called Chloe because her hair was bright blonde.
    "Hi, aunt T-Tracy" Chloe stuttered as her aunt appeared on the screen.
    "Tell aunt Tracy how old you are now sweetie." Beth insisted.
    "I'm five, auntie!" 
    "Wow, five already!" Tracy said. "You must be getting big, I can't wait to see you."
    "Speaking of which when are you flying home?" Beth questioned as she set down a plate of sizzling bacon and piping hot eggs in front of Chloe.
    "Make sure to blow on your eggs they're hot." Beth cautioned as she walked into the living room to continue her conversation.
    Chloe sat eating her eggs and looking out the window. Usually, it would be a bit too cloudy and dark outside for her liking. But she couldn't care less as she tore into her food. As she ate she forgot to blow on one piece of her eggs and began to panic. She pushed it about with her tongue to keep it from burning the inside her mouth. She should have listened to her mother about how hot the eggs would be. As the piece cooled she swallowed it and began to eat more carefully.
    Chloe finished off most of her food and was stuffed. She relaxed back in her chair and began to hear her Tracy and her mother still talking on the phone.
    "I'm trying Tracy, but things just haven't gone my way recently.
    "I know, but when I come back this summer I'll be able to help more. Unfortunately for right now we're just stuck. I know that you'll do everything you can and that's all that matters. I do have to let you go because I have work, but I love you Beth stay strong, ok?" Tracy asked
"Ok. Love you too, bye." Beth replied as she hung up the call.
Chloe cleaned off her plate and put it away. She walked out into the living room where her mother sat on the couch with her head slumped on one of her hands as she stared at her phone. Chloe walked over to her and gave her a hug.
"Oh, honey I didn't even see you there. Did you finish eating?" Beth asked.
"Yeah, and I put away my plate." Chloe said, "Mommy, I was thinking what if I help?"
"Help with what hon?"
"Getting ready for the party."
"No no that's ok, I don't want you to see the decorations until the party starts. My mom never used to let me until everyone was already there."
"But I want to help, just a little." Chloe persisted.
"Ok how about this, I'll let you grab the table cloth for me. It's in the cellar in one of the boxes on the lower shelves. After that, I want you in your room though, so I can get started with the decorating." Beth offered. 
"Ok I'll go get it," Chloe said
"Ok baby girl, I love you happy birthday"
"I love you too mommy," Chloe said as she got up and made her way to the basement door. She wasn't the biggest fan of the basement because it was very dark and always cold, but she wanted to do at least something to help her mom.
As she reached the basement door she could feel the cold air drafting from underneath it. She grabbed the old brass doorknob and twisted it. It made a scraping noise as it turned, and the door opened with a loud creak. She stepped on to the rickety wooden staircase from the 1800s. It wound down towards a pitch-black void. A chill rang throughout her body, this was her least favorite part. There was no working light switch for the room, to turn the lights on she had to step into the darkness and reach for the long metal cord hanging from the ceiling light down to the ground.
    She stepped off the final stair and began to look for the cord. As every second passed in the dark the more her legs began to tremble. The air was so cold and uninviting as it brushed passed her. Finally, she felt the cold metal bulbs of the cord and pulled tight. The light blinked a bit at first before fully turning on. Her fear seemed to wash away as the light came on to reveal nothing, but cement walls and towering metal shelves stacked high with boxes.
Chloe began to search through the boxes looking for the table cloth. As she was searching through them. she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. It looked like a piece of the wall was sticking out. She walked over to the wall and felt the piece, expecting it to be cold and hard like the cement walls. However, this piece was thin and course. As she felt it more she could see the piece was made of paper.
She gripped the paper tightly and began to pull. It ripped away from the wall to reveal a small opening in the cement. It looked ridged and uneven as if someone had dug it out. She got down on a knee and looked into the dark crevice. The tunnel was long and dark, but at the end of it, there was a faint flickering. She squinted to make out what it was but it appeared to be a flame. She was afraid the fire may spread so she got down and began to crawl into the hole.
The ground was moist and dirty in the crawl space. She felt a bit claustrophobic at first, but as she got fully in she realized it opened up into a small cave. She was getting very anxious as she was surrounded by the darkness, but her fear became confusion as she saw what was causing the flame. At the end of the crawl space was a small cupcake with a candle in it. The cupcake was her favorite it had strawberry frosting with rainbow sprinkles.
She made her way closer to the cupcake so she could take out the candle, but her mind began to ponder all the possibilities of how the cupcake had gotten here. She was deep in thought when she finally reached the cupcake. She pulled out the candle and was about to blow it out when she saw something faintly in the corner of the cave. She pointed the candle that way and was able to see what sat in the corner. 
Fear seemed to overtake Chloe as she stared at what could only be described as herself. The girl in the corner looked exactly like Chloe except for her eyes which nearly glowed with a dim yellow haze. The girl looked at Chloe and smiled before freakishly contorting her body into a crawling position.
Chloe screamed at the top of her lungs as she tried to crawl away, but the girl had already grabbed her leg with piercing black claws. Chloe was now faced to face the girl as she bared rows of jagged teeth in a crooked smile.
"What's wrong Chloe you haven't blown out your candle?" the girl said in a raspy and sadistic voice before blowing out the candle for her.
The crawl space went dark and silent. Beth who had heard the scream was now at the top of the stairs.
"Chloe is everything ok?" Beth yelled as she began to make her way down the stairs. The girl smiled as she emerged from the crawl space.
To be continued.