Addie walks to the bed, pressing her hand into the sheets. “It’s cold, so they’ve been gone for a minute.” Turning to me, she decides with resignation and dread, “I think we need to check the basement.” Her body is stiff, and her shoulders tense.
“What’s wrong with the basement?”
She shrugs a shoulder. “It’s creepy down there?” she says, though it sounds like a question.
“You like creepy.”
She seems to pause on that thought, and then relaxes, nodding her head. “Yeah, you’re right. I do like creepy. Let’s go.”
Sibby emerges from one of the rooms just as we exit her parents’ bedroom, appearing more frustrated.
“No one is up here. I busted in every room,” she says with disappointment.
“Basement,” I clip. “They might be down there.”
Addie leads us back down the stairs and towards the basement door in the dining room.
“If they are down there, they’ll hear our footsteps and know we’re coming,” I murmur, once more pushing Addie behind me. It’s better if I’m the one getting shot at so she can handle her parents.
The door creaks open, and it’s like looking into a massive black hole in the ground.
“How big is the basement?”
“Pretty big. It’s not finished,” she answers on a whisper. “There are rooms down there, too.”
Slowly, I descend the stairs, and my sight is completely robbed. There’s a cold chill and another heavy weight of dread down here, like an evil goddess beckoning me into her lair. Such a warm fucking welcome.
In the far back corner of the basement, a tiny sliver of light shines from the depths of what looks to be a hallway.
That pit of dread yawns, consuming my insides until all I feel is doom.
Addie and Sibby flank either side of me, and though I can’t see their faces, I can feel their restlessness.
“We’re in the family room, down that hallway is the unfinished side,” Addie informs me, her voice barely above a whisper.
Just as I take a step, the glow extinguishes as if they cut the lights out. I freeze, my eyes beginning to adjust.
They didn’t cut the lights out. Someone is standing at the entrance of the hallway. They’re unmoving, but I feel their eyes boring into where we stand. My hand tightens around my gun, and I slowly raise it, preparing for them to attack. Then, they slowly step back and disappear down the hallway again, the glow taking their place once more.
My heart pumps wildly in my chest. Shit, that’s freaky. Even I can admit that.
Sibby scoffs. “I spent too much time in haunted houses—no one is creepier than me. Let me go first.”
I shrug, deciding Sibby fucking with them wouldn’t hurt.
“Have fun,” I mumble, dropping my weapon an inch, though I refuse to relax. There could be more lurking around down here.
She giggles loudly, the sound sinister, before she softly sings a lullaby as she heads for the hallway. I can’t be sure, but if I know Sibby, then I’m positive she’s skipping there.
I grab Addie’s hand, leading her to where the little doll now stands in the entrance, her tiny body highlighted by the light.
Her pink knife is in her hand, and she stabs the tip into the wall beside her. Then, with her lullaby growing louder, she slowly walks down the hallway, dragging her knife as she goes.
Addie cringes, but I can’t tell if it’s because Serena is going to be pissed about that or if it’s because Sibby is just as creepy as she promised.
Both are daunting.
Voices arise from the room they’re in, sounding nervous and slightly angry.
“Don’t come any closer,” a deep voice barks. Sibby pauses, abruptly cutting off her lullaby, and cocks her head.
“That’s not very nice,” she whispers, her childlike tone sending chills down my spine. “I just want to play.”
“I will blow your fucking head off, bitch,” he spits. A large man fills the doorway at the end of the hallway, and I quickly usher Addie out of sight before he spots us at the mouth. I flatten myself against the wall and peek around the corner.
If he tries anything, I’ll be the one blowing heads off.
He’s burly and tall, with a bald head, black tattoos covering his pale skin, and a bushy beard surrounding his thinned lips. A gun is in his hand, aimed directly at Sibby. But she doesn’t seem the least bit frightened.
Muffled whimpers emit from the room, both masculine and feminine, and the sounds relax me a bit. They may be hurt, and definitely scared, but they’re also alive. That’s all that matters right now.