Moving to Hell

When the parents are away from home...

Our parents left the house this morning very early. We're here now for at least a week and this is our first weekend in the new neighbourhood. Our parents wanted to explore the city together, go out and have fun. Where we used to live, they always did that and now they want to pick it up again. That's why they left. I can't stay home alone, my mother thinks I'm too young for that. I don't know what my father thinks about it. In any case, that's why Johnny must stay at home as well. Although he has no plans and he doesn't like to go out, he's more of an indoor person, he hates to look after me. At least that's something we have in common; I hate it when Johnny has to look after me. He never wants to play with me and is always grumpy. Sometimes I wish he wasn't my brother, that I had a different brother. It's terribly quiet in the house. Something you should know about me, is that I can't stand silence. It makes me feel uncomfortable, like I'm being watched or something. Johnny thinks I'm putting myself in the job and that I should act a bit more mature. I clear my throat. 'Well, ehm... maybe we should do something to fill up the time. I mean... the weekend is pretty long, so it takes a while before mom and dad are back from their trip,' I softly say. My brother sighs without looking at me. He knew I would suggest that. Just like I know he doesn't wanna do something with me. A lot of the problems would have been solved if we had internet and perhaps the terrible, frightening events wouldn't have happened. Johnny and I were supposed to be in our rooms with our phones or maybe I was watching TV in the living room. In any case, we wouldn't have bothered each other and wouldn't been so bored. Internet is quite a hassle to arrange, esspecially in this town. That's why our parents decided to wait with that. We do have a phone which we can make phone calls with, but that's all. Johnny sighs and rolls his eyes. 'What do you have in mind, loser?' he asks, although he isn't really interested in it. I still answer his question. 'I wanna play hide and seek,' I say. My eyes are lighting up and I have a smile on my face. It's my favourite game. I always used to play it with Lulu. 'Alright you shithead, but I'm not gonna hide,' my brother says. 'I'll hide!' I say excited. I always hide. Lulu's the seeker. She says I'm really good at hiding. 'Because this is the first time we'll be playing it, I won't make it that hard for you to find me,' I say. 'How sweet,' Johnny says sarcastic. I roll my eyes and act like I didn't hear it. 'Well, go hide then,' Johnny says irritated. I start smiling again and run away to hide myself.

I run up and down the stairs. I look in every room, but I don't find the right spot. It shouldn't be that hard to find, but it shouldn't be easy either. At first I wanted to hide in Johnny's room, but I changed my mind; if he finds out that I have even put one foot in his room, I have a big problem. I look at the stairs which leads to the attic, but it looks way to creepy for me. I even get the shivers if I think of sitting there alone, so I run downstairs again. Then it hit me; the perfect hiding place. I often think about what would have happened if I hadn't gone there. If only I had chosen a different place. Then it would never have gone like this. Johnny and I would never get the band we got through this event. My eyes turn big and my smiles becomes bigger than ever. Secretly I take the stairs leading down, to the cellar. For some reason it doesn't look scary at all. It looks friendly and inviting. Proud of the place I've found, I open the door of the cellar and go inside. As soon as I closed the door behind me, the darkness enveloped me. I still feel excited and happy, in stead of scared. I should have been scared afterwards. Anxiety is a very normal reaction and it might even have led me to leave the cellar even before my brother had to take action. The fact that I was not afraid made everything different. I go sit in a corner, waiting for Johnny to find me. I was naive, something I was often accused of. I was convinced that Johnny would find me or at least look for me, but nothing could be further from the truth. When searching meant being lazy on the couch and enjoying the peace and quiet that had come the moment I left the room, he was looking for me, but that didn't mean it and Johnny wasn't looking for me. Something I would discover later on, only a little too late.

A few minutes later I was still watching my brother in the basement. It was getting cold. I didn't know a cellar was that cold. A strong, foul odor also penetrated my nose. It made my eyes water. I put my hand to my nose to exclude the smell, but it's so strong that it still manages to penetrate. I soon hear a sound; the sound of footsteps. I didn't think about Johnny for a second. It didn't sound like people footsteps at all. It sounded much softer and rougher. It also sounded much closer... The sound of the footsteps in combination with the increasingly unbearable odor and the dripping sound makes me uncertain. I swallow. Something takes my breath away, makes my heart beat faster and more irregularly, makes me breathe hunterier. Something causes fear to surround me and take possession of me. The footsteps are getting louder, which means it's getting closer. From the darkness in front of me, which had gone from pleasant to frightening, a large, dirty, slimy head loomed. Not long after, the equally slimy and dirty body followed. It was long and stretched. It was completely covered with scales. Although it was dark and I couldn't see it properly, the monster was most like an alligator, although it was actually too large and frightening for that. My eyes grow wide and my breath catches my throat. The huge alligator growls his lip up. This reveals lines and rows of large, razor-sharp teeth. The beast licks its large teeth with its tongue and comes sneaking at me. If it had actually been an alligator, he wouldn't have wanted to eat me. Alligators don't like meat at all. Maybe the previous residents breed alligators and just bred him too far. Since the residents haven't been living in the house for years, the alligator would be very hungry and therefore eat everything that came his way. That would explain why he wanted to eat me. That was the most logical explanation I could come up with, but I also knew it wasn't true. That this was a monster who loved human meat and who saw me as a nice snack. How he got here didn't matter. His snake-like eyes were focused on me and his flat nostrils were wide open. I'm getting more scared every second. My shirt is wet with sweat, my hair sticks to my forehead. I'm having goosebumps. I finally found my voice. I start screaming. I squeeze all the air out of my lungs in a long, hard scream. My throat hurts and I get a hoarse voice, but it doesn't stop me. 'HEEEEEELP! HEEEEELP! JOHNNY PLEASE! HEEEEEELP!' The monster alligator in front of me licks his giantic, horrorfying lips. His tong is tick and slimy. I don't wanna be eaten by this monster!  I think by myself. I start crying. The monster opens its huge mouth. I only see more glittering, razor-sharp teeth and his thick, red tongue. I push myself against the wall. I want to disappear through it. The wall feels cold against my wet shirt and back, but rather than being eaten by this monster. A thick, slimy, green blob falls slowly on my shoe, which is almost within reach of the monster. 'JOHNNY! JOHNNY! PLEASE! HELP ME! PLEASE!' I scream. It's incredibly stupid that I call his name. I know he isn't looking for me, I know he doesn't care about me. Why would he respond, come and find me? What reason could he have? He wouldn't help me in a hundred years. If he had known what situation I'm in, he would probably only encourage the monster. But he was all hope I had left. Mom and dad weren't home. Johnny was the only one who could save me, though he never would. The alligator starts hissing at me. I'm getting light-headed. I don't know what to do. And as the alligator approaches, my hope disappears. I'm trapped. This is it, Jackie I think by myself, this is the end. The moment the alligator wants to put his razor-sharp teeth in my leg, my brother forcibly opens the door. A strip of yellow light falls on his sweaty and frightened face. He has a gun in his hands; one of dad's guns. 'KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN!' he shouts at me. I don't have time to ask questions or to think about the fact he's literally rescuing me and do what he says. I hide my face in my legs and protect my arms over it. The second I bend, I hear gunshots. Loud and clear. They echo through the hollow space and thump into my eardrums. I peek through my legs and see bits of alligator flying through the room. The monster screams shrill and high. His slimy blood splashes against the walls and on me. It smells terrible. After a while the screaming stops and with that the gun shots.The silence has return. Only after a few minutes I dare to look up. I still vibrate and my face looks pale. My heart's beating hard against my chest. It hurts. I breathe with difficulty. I don't stand up. I look at the pieces alligator, scattered in the basement. I swallow. The tears are still standing in my eyes. My face is red and swollen from crying. Johnny's panting heavily and has dropped the gun on the ground. He looks at me. 'Are you- are okay?' he asks with difficulty. I nod softly, but he knows I'm lying. Johnny spread his arms and beckons me. 'Come here,' he says. I run into them and feel them close behind me. He holds me tight. He hears my fast heartbeat and goes with one hand through my hair. We've never hugged before. I never thought this would happen. 'It's okay. It's okay,' Johnny softly says, 'sst, it's okay.' He tries to calm me down. Slowly my heart rate drops to a normal pace again. 'You're never playing hide and seek anymore,' Johnny says. We both chuckle. 'Never,' I say. We look back one more time and then leave the cellar to never return.