'The Men In The Basement"

“The Men In The Basement”
By Cody Williams

1
Insane. I believed that is what they called me as I was forced to be carried out of my own house. Was I insane? Yes. I was insane because they didn’t believe me. But lets start from the beginning.
My name is Carter Carrington. I am the sixteen year old son of Max and Lilly Carrington. Both of my parents are struggling writers. We moved into the new house about a week ago. 4 days to be exact.
The house was a complete steal on the market coming in at only $500. It was a nice four bedroom brick house with two floors and a large basement. Dick Harvey was the realtor of the house. But there was a reason why the house was cheap. I’ll never forget what he said before leaving his first visit in the house. He walked off of the front porch and onto the walkway leading to it. He turned back to us.
“If you ever need any help, call me immediately.” He said. “Also, never go into the basement alone. Always have someone with you!” Mr. Harvey said as he placed his top hat on his head and walked to his car. He got in, started the engine, and drove away.
At first I didn’t think anything about it. I thought you know, maybe he was just a lonely old man telling the typical bull shit stories they typically do. But I was dead wrong.

2
On the first night we had to decide who got what rooms. My parents got the master bedroom while my 5 year old little sister, Bethany, got the bedroom next to theirs. My 10 year old little brother, Raymond, got the room at the end of the hall. Leaving me and my 14 year old brother, Charlie, to decide the final room.
Charlie offered me the room but I insisted him to have it. My mom offered to make me a room in the living room, but I insisted on sleeping in the basement. I don’t know why, but I felt myself being drawn to the basement. Besides, I liked the idea of the privacy that I would get down there. I picked up my suitcase and carried it down stairs.
After I reached the bottom of the stairs and placed the suitcase on the floor there was an immediate change in temperature. It went from about 70 degrees Fahrenheit to 50 degrees Fahrenheit in a matter of a few feet. I remember being able to see my breath but I ignored it. I felt a strong feeling of danger down there. A feeling that I wasn’t welcome. I felt a hand reach up and grab my right shoulder. I jumped back and screamed but it was just my dad.
“Sorry son, I didn’t mean to scare you!” Dad said pulling his hand away. I took a deep breath and sighed.
“You didn’t scare me I knew that was you.” I said in my fake brave voice. My dad flipped up the light switch turning on the six different overhead lights.
“Are you sure about living here Carter? It’s a little bit stuffy down here.” My dad said. That was when I realized that the temperature was back to normal. I ignored the temperature again and followed my dad up the stairs to move all of my things down to the basement.
“Sure, I love the privacy and the space.” I told my dad as we reached the top of the stairs and walked into the living room. My dad nodded his head and grabbed a single fold up bed and I grabbed the other and we carefully carried it down the steps.
After getting the bed down the steps we unfolded the bed and placed it up against the wall. We made the bed and walked upstairs for dinner.

That night we had spaghetti for dinner. After saying grace I looked down at my plate of spaghetti. But instead of seeing spaghetti and meat balls I saw what looked like the small intestate of a small dog and eye balls. I jumped up from the table and screamed.
“Honey what’s wrong?” My mom asked with concern. I looked up at my mom in shock.
“Mom don’t you see it?” I asked her.
“See what?” she asked me.
“What’s in the…” I started as I looked back down at my plate. I saw that all that was in there were spaghetti and meat balls. “Nothing. I must have been seeing things.” I said as I finally calmed down.
“Maybe your just tired sweetie. Why don’t you go take a nice, long, hot shower and go to bed a bit early tonight? You’ve had a long night.” My mom said rubbing my face.
“Okay.” I said quietly as I stood up from the table. I walked up stairs and into the bathroom where I undressed and turned on the water.

I waited a moment for the water to get warm and I got in. I stood there for several moments enjoying the feeling of the warm water running over my bare body. The water continued to get hotter and hotter. I glanced down at the shower knobs and the left one, the one for the hot water, began to move very slowly on its own. I closed my eyes in disbelief and shook my head then opened them back up. The left shower knob moved dead left making the water boiling hot.
“Son of a bitch!” I screamed as I leaped out of the bath tub and onto the slippery white tile floor. My right foot slipped right out from under me and I fell hitting my head on the cold hard toilet seat... I grabbed my head in pain rubbing the bump that now has grown on top of it. I heard three knocks on the door.
“Son are you okay? We heard you scream.” My dad asked from the other side of the door. I lifted my head and continued to rub the bump.
“Yes, I am okay.” I told him.
“What the hell happened in there?” dad asked.
“The water got really hot and I slipped and hit my head.” I told him. I grabbed the sink and pulled myself up.
“Are you sure you are okay?” My dad asked again.
“Yes dad! I’ll be right out!” I assured him. I reached over to the hook on the door grabbing my long red robe. I put on the robe and looked back at the shower knobs. They continued to move on their own.
“Carter. Carter. Carter.” I heard an invisible voice say. I reached over to the door, twitted the knob, and ran out of the bathroom.

I ran down the hallway, down the first flight of stairs, and down the stairs to the basement. After reaching the bottom of the stairs, I leaped onto my bed and sat cross legged at the head of it.
“That didn’t happen. You were just imagining it.” I said to myself holding my head between my legs. After calming down I sat up in my bed and got under the covers. I turned off my desk lamp and drifted off to sleep.

“Carter.” I heard the voice say again as I awoke from my nap startled. “Carter” the voice said again. Only this time it was different. Instead of just one voice calling my name, it sounded like the voice of several men. I glanced over to the corner of the room where I was the outlines of four men. It looked as if they were talking amongst themselves while calling out my name in a chilling tone. “Carter” they said again. Each time they said my name, the closer they got to my bedside.
“Come join us Carter! Come join us on the other side!” The man in the middle said. What did they look like? I don’t know. It is kind of hard to explain. You really couldn’t see their faces. As if their faces were being blared out. “Come join us on the other side Carter!” The man in the middle said again as they began to reach out to me.
I jumped out of the bed and ran up the stairs. I ran through the dark hallway and up the stairs to the master bedroom. I ran into my parent’s room and leaped on their bed in between them.
“What the hell?” my dad said in a cranky tone.
“Mom, Dad, there are four men in the basement!” I told them. They looked at each other shocked.
“What?” Mom asked.
“Yes, there’s four men in navy blue suites in the basement!” I told them again. Dad got out of the bed and walked out of the room down to the basement. We reached the bottom of the stairs and he turned on the over head lights. We both looked around for a moment and there was no sign of the four men I saw.
“Carter I think you were just having a bad dream.” My dad said.
“No dad, there really were four men in the basement!” I told him.
“Enough! Go back to bed! It was just a bad dream.” He said as he walked back up the stairs. I quickly grabbed my sheets and pillows off of the bed and ran up the stairs into the living room.
I lay down on the couch and covered up.
“It couldn’t have been a dream. Could it?” I said to my self prior to drifting off to sleep.




3

The next morning I woke up with my dad standing over me while I was on the couch.
“What are you doing on the couch?” My dad asked me.
“I didn’t want to go back into the basement. I didn’t want the men in the basement to get me.” I remember telling him. My dad then looked over at my younger siblings at the bottom of the stairs. He could tell that they over heard our conversation.
“What men in the basement?” my sister, Bethany, said frightened. My dad looked at me in a way of such anger and then looked back at Bethany.
“There’s no men in the basement sweet heart. He was just talking about a dream he had last night. Now go upstairs, brush your teeth, and get dressed.” My dad told her. Then he turned back to me and walked back over to the couch.
“Don’t you say anything else about what you think you saw in the basement. It was just a bad dream.” He said strongly.
“But dad!” I started to explain.
“But nothing! I don’t want to hear another word about the men in the basement again. Are we clear?
“But…”
“Are we clear?” My dad screamed.
“Yes sir!” I said.
“Good.” My dad said as he turned from me and walked back up the stairs to his bedroom to take a shower.
I wasn’t happy to say the least. I knew what I saw. There were four men in the basement. And they wanted me for some reason. There was no way I was going to set foot back in that basement again…until later that night.

4

I began to make my bed on the couch again that night preparing for bed, until dad walked in.
“What the hell are you doing?” He asked me.
“Just getting ready for bed.” I replied.
“Great. But don’t you think you should do that in your own room down stairs?” He asked me as he pointed towards the basement door.
“No! Dad! Please don’t make me go down there!” I pleaded with him. He shook his head and gave me what I like to call “the stink face” and pointed at the basement door.
“Go down to your room and go to bed.” He said. I nodded and obeyed. I picked up my sheets and pillow and walked back down into the basement. I threw the sheets and pillows on the bed and walked looked over to the corner of the room. There stood the four men whispering amongst themselves again.
“We’ve been waiting for you Carter.” The one in the middle said as the four men began walking towards me. “Come joins us Carter!” He said again. I flipped on the light switch and the lights came on. The four men disappeared. Being naturally curious I turned the lights back off. The four men reappeared in the corner again.
“DO NOT DO THAT AGAIN! THE LIGHT BURNS!” The one in the middle screamed as they waked towards me. I turned the lights on again and they disappeared once more. I decided to sleep with the lights on. I figured if the lights burn them, they can’t get me while I am sleeping. I walked over to the bed and jumped into it. For the first time I felt safe in the basement and I drifted off the sleep.

5

“What the hell is this?” My dad yelled at me from the steps. “Why the hell where you sleeping with the fucking lights on? What the hell?” My dad screamed. “Explain yourself! Why the hell were you sleeping with the fucking lights on?” He said to me angrily.
“I was sleeping with the lights on because it hurts the four men. They can’t hurt me with the lights on.” I said to him.
“Do you know how much money and energy you waste by sleeping with the lights on? Do you?” He screamed. I shook my head.
“I don’t care. They keep me safe from the four men.” I said smartly. My dad’s face turned red with anger. He walked over to the light switch and turned it off. He walked under the light fixture closest to the window and took out the light bulb.
“Dad! No!” I shouted. He ignored me and continued to take lights out of the light fixtures. “You can’t!” I said. He ignored me until all light bulbs were out of the fixtures.
“Now, I don’t want to hear anymore about the men in the basement.” He said. Then he pointed towards the black desk lamp on my night stand. “I’ll let you keep the desk lamp.” He said. He put the light bulbs into a brown cardboard box and carried them upstairs. I turned on the desk lamp and sat down on my bed. I waited to see if the men would show themselves again. Light creped in from the windows thus brightining the room. After an hour of waiting there was no sign of the four men. I stood up off of the bed and walked up stairs to take a shower and began the day.

6

That night I tried to stay upstairs as much as I could. I suggested that we watch a family comedy together that night. The movie finished around midnight. My younger siblings fell asleep and were sleeping on my mom’s lap. As the end credits came on my dad reached over and grabbed the DVD player remote.
“What are you doing?” I asked him. He looked at me with a confused expression.
“Uh…turning off the DVD Player and TV. Then I’m going to go to bed.” He replied.
“But don’t you think we should watch the end credits?” I asked him. At this point I was trying to come up with every lame excuse I could. I just needed a reason not to have to go down stairs. He looked at me in this strange manner.
“What?” He asked me as if he didn’t hear. “Why do you want to watch the end credits?” He asked me.
“Because…it is disrespectful to the people who took the time to put them on there?” I asked not knowing what his reaction would be. He shook his head.
“Okay, we’ll watch the end credits.” He said as he sat back.
After the DVD went back to the main menu, my dad turned the DVD player and TV off.
“Wait! Where are you guys going?” I asked them.
“To bed.” My dad said not even looking back at me. I think he has had enough of my staling. But I still had to try to stall.
“Wait! Do you guys want to play Go Fish?” I asked. They ignored me and walked up the stairs to go to bed. I stood up and walked over to the basement door, opened it, and walked down the stairs. With every step I went down I could feel my heart beat faster. The closer I got the sweatier my hands got. When I reached the floor, I looked over to the corner of the room. To my amazement, there was no one there. I took in a deep breath and a sigh of relief. I walked over to the bed and got in it. I began to drift off the sleep…until I heard it.
“Carter!” the one in the middle said again. “Come and join us Carter!” he continued. I was sick and tired of not being listened to. I stood up from my bed looked at them. I decided I was not going to be afraid of them anymore. I walked over to the corner and stared the men in the eyes. What I saw was chilling. What I saw was nothing. There is nothing scarier than emptiness. I felt my eyes fixated on them. I could not stop from staring into their black as coal eyes.
After staring at them for several moments the men disappeared. I felt a kind of emptiness. I felt as if I was not there anymore. Or at least not all of me. I felt that I didn’t have complete control. It was as if I was not alone inside my body. I turned around to the bed and got back in it. I covered up, turned off the desk lamp, and then drifted off to sleep.

7

Later that night I had a dream that I was in what the men called it the dark room. In the dark room were just me and the four men. Only something was different. This time the one in the middle stepped into the light. He was wearing a navy blue suite and a red tie. He had red colored hair and a red beard.
“Hello Carter.” He said to me. “We want you to do us a favor. Will you do us a favor Carter?” He asked me. I closed my eyes to see if when I opened them back up they would be gone. I opened them back up and the men were still there.
“What do you want from me?” I asked him.
“We want you to do us a favor.” The man in the suite said again.
“What? What do you want me to do?” I asked him.
“We want you to go upstairs and kill your little sister.” The man said. I looked at him with disbelief.
“You want me to what?” I asked to make sure I was hearing what I was hearing. He smiled. Not with a welcoming smile, but with a devious smile.
“You heard me. I want you to go upstairs, go into the kitchen, grab the biggest knife in there, and splatter your sister’s guts on the wall.
“No! I can’t do that!” I told him. He looked down and sighed. He looked back up at me. I looked into his eyes once more. But this time it was different. It was no longer a felling of emptiness. I now had the feeling of hatred. I saw the depths of hell when I looked into his eyes. Nothing but fire and brimstone. His head began to grow twice its normal size and it exploded splattering blood all over the walls of the basement.
The next thing I remember was my mom calling for me from up stairs. I rubbed my face with my hands wiping away the sweat.
“It was just a…” I started until I noticed a door that was blending in with the wall. Under the door knob laid a pool of blood. I stood up from the bed and walked over to the door. I opened it revealing the dark room with blood surrounding it. In the center of the room sat the man in the navy suite on a wooden stool. He looked up at me with his lifeless eyes and I slammed the door. I ran to the stairs and ran up. I went through the basement door slammed it. I grabbed the key from the top of the doorway and locked the door.

8

I did as much as I could that day to try to keep my mind off of the men in the basement. I did everything from doing the dishes to mowing the lawn. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get them out of my mind. What did they want with me? Why did they want me to kill my sister? What was with the dark room? I needed to know more. I needed to know why they chose me. I needed to know what they wanted with me. Against my better judgment I decided to step foot back into the dark room and confront the man in the suit face to face.


9

On the fourth night my parents decided to go to bed early. I liked that decision that way they wouldn’t get hurt. They kissed me good night and went up stairs. I stoop up from the couch and turned off the TV. I walked towards the basement door and went down the stairs. I reached the floor and looked over at the corner where the men would typically be. Nobody was there.
I turned and walked over to the door of the dark room. I took a deep breath, put my hand on the knob, and turned it to the left. The door swung open and there in the middle of the room sitting on a stool was the man in the suit looking at the ground.
I began walking towards him and he continued looking at the ground. I walked over to him and glared down at him. He lifted his head and looked me in the eye.

10

The next thing I remembered was being called “insane” and being carried out of the house. As I was being put into the police car, I looked over and saw an ambulance. Behind the ambulance were a tiny body bag and a bloody knife. I turned to my parents before they shoved me in the back seat of the car and stared at them.
“Now that I am out of the house, they’ll be coming after you. You’re next!” I told them. The deputy grabbed my shoulder and shoved me into the police car. I was certain that they would be coming after them…but I was dead wrong.

11
You see, now I realize it. I thought they were after whoever lived in the house. I got it wrong. All they really wanted was me. I lay here in the hospital bed in my straight jacket and looking at the wall. I can still see them looking at me. Peaking around the doorway in the bathroom. They are still stalking me and whispering about me. I can here them. I’m not crazy!
“Carter, it’s time for beddy bye.” The nurse said peaking her head in the door and turning off the lights. The men are here. But tonight. They aren’t going to get me to do something awful. Tonight, they are taking me with them.

Copyright 2013 by Cody Williams
Courtesy of TRUE TERROR PUBLICATIONS
A division of TTP Entertainment
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