What Lurks Below

There was only one rule: don’t open the door. Every girl here knew that rule and lived and breathed it. After one week of staying in this house, I started getting curious as to why no one dared to open the basement door after ten at night. We didn’t exactly know why we weren’t allowed. Yet we followed as if the rule was strictly life or death. The people who ran this safe house were of a peculiar type and had all kinds of strange rules we had to follow. If we wanted to remain here, we did as they asked. It was somewhere warm and comfortable, and most of us didn’t risk the chance of being tossed out into the darkness that was the real world. So we listened and obeyed diligently. Yet, just like it always does curiosity got the best of me. I needed to know why it was so important for the door to stay closed and locked at night. I asked questions to the other girls who had been there longer than I had. All I got for answers were blank stares and uncomfortable reactions, with the occasional “because they said so” response. The whole thing felt off and their reactions weren’t good enough for me. I needed real answers. Turning in my bed I noticed the clock read twenty minutes after midnight. Throwing on my sweatshirt I made my way downstairs until I found myself lingering by the basement door. After examining my surroundings my shaking hands clasped the knob and began to turn. The door creaked open and I found myself staring down a musty dark staircase. Adjusting my light I saw it. The reason why, or better yet the reasons why, and I had just released their souls for revenge.