Ten

“Would you rather lick a stranger’s toes or be locked in a cage with a tiger?” Luke asked.

“We’re supposed to be doing our essay,” I said, annoyed.

“Technically, I’m helping you with your essay.”

“By distracting me?”

“Yes, that way you relax and not stress. I mean, you have enough pimples as it is.”

I kicked him causing him to groan in pain. Luke and I have been best friends since fifth grade. We met after he wandered into my backyard and wanted to play with me. He was extremely friendly to me like we had been friends for years. No matter how many times I tried to push him away, he always came back so I just stopped trying. Soon enough, I found his presence comforting and we spent every day together.

The only problem was that my mom didn’t like him. My mom is the sweetest person on the planet but for some reason, whenever Luke comes over, she’s cold to him and treats him like he’s intruding on something. I asked her one time why she treats him like that and she dismissed it like I was making it all up in my head.

My mom has always been like that. Despite being sweet, anytime I ask any personal questions she immediately changes the subject or dismisses it. Especially if I ask about the basement. When I first came here, she said that her only rule was for me not to go in the basement. She never told me why I couldn’t go into the basement but she did say that if I did then I would never get out. That always scared me so I never went inside.

I snapped back to reality after Luke got a call from his girlfriend, Melody. They’ve been together since ninth grade. I’ve never liked her. She seems like a nice person to everyone but I’ve seen her true colors. She’s basically a gold digger. She’s always asking Luke to buy her something and if he doesn’t she threatens to break up with him. They got into a huge argument one day to the point where she slapped him. I was about to beat her ass but Luke stopped me. Now that we’re in our Senior year of high school, I can see that Luke is tired of her and I’m hoping that he finally leaves her.

He hung up and sighed.

“Everything okay there buddy?” I asked, concerned.

“Yeah, Melody wants to go shopping later tonight.”

I was about to say something but he held up his hand.

“If you’re about to tell me to break up with her then I don’t want to hear it.”

“Fine. Do you want to do something else since we’re getting nowhere?” I asked.

He grinned sinisterly. I really hate that grin.

“What?” I asked nervously.

“Your mom is at the grocery store right now, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Let’s go investigate the basement.”

“What? No, we can’t!”

“Why not?”

“Mom told me not to go down there.”

“We’ll just see what’s down there and come back up before she gets back. No harm no foul.”

I bit my lip.

“Come on, Piper. Give in to the dark side,” he said trying to mimic Dark Vader.

“Your impressions suck but fine.”

“Yes, let’s go!” he yelled running out of the room.

“Wait for me damnit!”

I can’t believe I agreed to this. I followed him down the stairs and we stood in front of the basement door.

“Would you like to do the honors?” Luke asked.

I went to open the door but I stopped myself. My mom’s voice kept playing in my head. “If you go in the basement, you will never get out.”

“Piper, we don’t have to go in if you don’t want to. I was just fucking around.”

“No, I want to do this. My mom is just being dramatic. What could possibly be so bad down there?”

I opened the door out of impulse and we were hit with cold air. We looked down at the deep pool of darkness.

“So, would you like to head down first?” I asked.

“I think we’ve both established you’re the braver one in this friendship.”

I rolled my eyes and headed down the stairs with him following me.

“It’s so dark down here. Where are the lights at?”

When I reached the bottom, I stuck my hands out and felt around the walls. My hand finally hit a light switch and I turned the lights on. I squinted my eyes at the brightness. After my eyes adjusted to the light, I looked around to a normal basement. Wooden floors, dust everywhere, spiderwebs in every corner, and cardboard boxes.

“This is what my mom didn’t want me to see? Boxes?”

Luke went over to one of the open boxes and took out a picture frame. He snickered and showed it to me. It was a photo of a baby girl wearing an elf costume.

“Aw, I didn’t know you were an elf.”

“That’s not me. Mom adopted me when I was ten.”

The smile on Luke’s face faded away.

“What do you mean you’re adopted?”

“Well Luke when you don’t have parents or they suck, you get put in a foster home or-.”

“I know what adoption means. Piper, I’ve known you since birth.”

Now it was my turn to be confused.

“Wait what?”

“Yeah, our moms are best friends so we went to each other’s houses all the time.”

“But I met you when I was ten. Unless…that wasn’t me.”

His eyes widened and he ran his fingers through his hair

“This is trippy as fuck.”

“Wait, is that why you were so friendly to me when we first met?”

“Well, I guess so. We were already friends before. Wait, but your name is Piper.”

Then, I realized something. Something horrible.

“My name is actually Ally. My mom told me that my new name is Piper and to forget about Ally.”

“What the fuck is going on right now?” Luke whispered to himself.

I looked through the other boxes. They were all photos of girls that looked like me but there were some differences. One of them had a mole on their cheek, the other had dimples, and another one had freckles. They were different ages so they could be passed as puberty things. Well, except for the dimples. The boxes were numbered too. One through nine. I went over to the one labeled ‘one’ and looked through it. There were pictures of a newborn baby. But the very last one looked like it was taken when she was 2 years old.

I looked through the second box and it was another girl that looked like her but she had two moles. As I went through the boxes, it was a different girl that looked like the first girl. I started piecing it together after I grabbed the last photo of the last girl. She was ten. The same age that Mom adopted me.

“I have a theory,” I said.

“I also have a theory.”

I turned around and saw Luke kneeling over something. I went over and gasped. There was a pile of small bones underneath the floorboards. Small enough for them to be a child’s bones.

“Um, w-what was your theory?” Luke asked nervously.

“That um, mo-. Melissa must’ve killed her first child and has been adopting girls that look exactly like Piper.”

“...I was thinking that you were an alien but your theory makes more sense.”

“We have to call the police!”

Then, the basement door slammed shut causing my heart to drop.

“Piper.”

“Piper, I’m scared,” Luke whispered.

“I told you not to come down here,” Melissa said in a sing-songy voice.

We both looked up and saw her coming down the stairs with a huge wicked smile on her face. My eyes widened when I saw she had a cleaver in her hand.

“Now you’ll have to join the others.”

She screamed as she came charging at us. I grabbed one of the pictures, pushed Luke out of the way, and dodged out of the way as she tried to slice me. I smashed the picture frame in her face causing her to fall.

“Luke, run!”

He ran up the stairs and I was about to follow him but then I felt excruciating pain until I only saw darkness.

I woke up a few hours later in darkness.

“Hello?”

“She finally killed you.”

I jumped at the voice and felt around.

“Who’s there?” I asked.

“My name is Sam. I’m the ninth girl that you replaced.”

“B-But, you’re dead.”

“We’re both dead.”

“W-Wait what?”

“While you had your back turned, she stabbed you in the head with the cleaver.”

“No. Wait, but what happened to Luke?”

“I don’t know. We can’t leave. You’re the first person we’ve seen in seven years.”

“So that means…”

I ran towards what I hope were the stairs. I tripped and fell on the stairs in front and immediately got up to climb.

“There’s no point.”

I ignored her as I reached the top and tried to open the door but my hand went through the knob. I tried to go through the door but it blocked me from doing so like I was alive.

“Why can’t we leave?!”

“Well, you were told the same thing she told us. If you go in the basement, you’ll never get out.”