Golden Heart

(24) Good luck

Warning: Mature Content for themes around self-harm, violence, strong language, drugs, alcohol and sex with be mentioned in the story.

Golden Heart

At first all Liam saw was darkness. He waited until he had reached the bottom of the stairs before he turned on his lighter. The light streaming in from the opened trapdoor had been enough for him to see the steps under him, but he still had to be careful to not fall dow the last few steps. Now he was standing in utter and complete darkness, turning on his lighter to be able to even see something. The little flame was enough for his eyes to slowly adjust to the darkness and he was able to see that the room was almost empty. 

It was like a small basement down here, the typical basement people had in their homes. Just that this one looked a lot smaller and scarier. He looked around and could only see the shapes of the few things down there like a shelf on the wall and, after taking a quick look, he even spotted another door behind something that looked like a cupboard. Other than the shelf there were a few other things in the room, not a lot though. He saw a few boxes here and there and things like a toolbox. Things everyone had in their homes. The only thing sticking out from all the other things was the door. And the fact that it was behind a cupboard made it clear that maybe there was something behind that door, something he really needed to check out.

"There's a door down here," Liam called up. He stood at the edge of the staircase, looking up into the living room. Alice and Ella both stuck their heads through the opened trapdoor, looking down at Liam who had his lighter tightly in his hand but the flame gone. Alice could barely see inside the room, it was too dark to see anything from up there. But she was very interested in finding out what was behind that door. 

"Go check it out!" Alice called down. She would have gone down herself but she knew Ella wouldn't let her. Liam only nodded and turned back around, walking over to the cupboard. If he wanted to open that door he had to move the cupboard aside. It seemed very heavy but he might be able to push it aside enough to open the door. He put the lighter into the pocket of his jeans and sighed, walking over to the side of the cupboard and placing both his hands on the old wood. It didn't necessarily smell good down there and he really wanted to get this over with as fast as possible so he could get out of the darkness. But he had to admit, he himself really wanted to know what was behind that door.

He started pushing, using all his strength to try to move the cupboard. At first nothing happened. The cupboard didn't move the tiniest bit, it was just him groaning and pushing and the cupboard creaking loudly. He was getting frustrated and tried using his whole body to push against the cupboard, pushing and pushing until eventually it started moving a bit. He felt the relief wash over him as he managed to push the cupboard aside just enough to open the door. Alice and Ella were still looking down, trying to see what was happening down there. But it was too dark to see anything. They could her Liam groaning and the scraping of the cupboard against the wooden floor. 

"Can't we just go down there for two minutes?" Alice turned her head, looking at Ella who still seemed a bit terrified. She suspected it was still because of the darkness but maybe also a little bit because of the door Liam had found. Maybe there was a reason it had been hidden behind a cupboard, maybe no one was supposed to see what was behind that door. Maybe it was something dangerous, something crazy. And Ella had been through enough crazy for now. She quickly shook her head and Alice sighed. "Would you mind if I went down there for a few minutes then?"

"Why do you want to go down there?" Ella asked, looking into the darkness. She couldn't imagine how anyone would have wanted to go down there. Anything could have been lurking in the dark, maybe there was some wild animal down there or something. The trapdoor had been hidden and the fact that it was hidden could mean that whatever was down there wasn't supposed to be found by anyone except for the person that hid this door under the sofa.