The Basement Man

Word count: 979

The Basement Man

The hatchet was her idea. I do not know how long we have all been here; it feels like forever. My friend Racheal and I are locked in a cold and poorly lit cage. The last thing I remember is being at Racheal's cabin and someone knocked at the door, then nothing until I woke up here in this dank basement of Hell. While Racheal and I were discussing ways to escape, Racheal noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head towards the end of the hallway where a trickle of light can be seen and the gleam of the hatchet. She came up with the plan and I agreed to it. We will wait for the Basement Man to come back and we will make noise or do whatever we have to so he will open our cage, then I will tackle him and Racheal will get the hatchet, we will do what needs to be done to take our freedom back.

The sound clink, clink, announces the Basement Man's appearance to the cages. As he enters through the dark, black entrance, the smell of stale cigarettes and cheap liquor hit my nostrils tearing up my eyes. The thought of having to touch this man in any way revolts me, I take a deep breath and tell myself I can do this because if I don't, Racheal and I may never get out.

The Basement Man walks over to our cage and stands there looking at us, deep in thought. He says, "Hello, ladies. I hope you are comfortable with your new home. We are going to play a game. If you do not agree to play then you will die. You are in the underground tunnels of New York City. I will open your cage and let you out. If you can find the way out then you are free to go. If you do not find your way out," the Basement Man says this with a gleam in his eye, "You will die. You will have twelve hours. Use the time wisely."

I look over to Racheal and she nods her head at me, the signal we agreed on to get us ready for what we must do. I hear the key being pushed inside the lock and the clink of it opening. The Basement Man grabs the bars with his right hand and looks at us saying, "One more thing. I will be watching every move you make. Let the games begin." He swings the door open and I take this opportunity to tackle him like a football player.

Racheal does not hesitate and leaps into action, running towards the hatchet. Grabbing the handle with both hands she picks up the weapon and with a victorious look turns her head towards me and The Basement Man. I am glad that she did not see what was coming next except I saw everything. Lying onto top of this dirty man, I head butted him which stunned him long enough for me to look up at Racheal.

This next part is seared into my brain and I will never forget. Before I could say anything two ninja stars flew towards Racheal. One flew towards the top part of her body cutting her head off and the other flew towards her middle, slicing her in half. Her head fell to the cement floor with a crack them rolled towards us and stopped when it hit the Basement Man in the shoulder. I looked at it and the lifeless blue-green eyes staring back at me told me that I was not getting out of here so easily. Looking over at the rest of her body, I saw blood, pieces of intestine, and bits of flesh with other parts I could not identify.

During my shock, the Basement Man pushed me off of him and said, "That little girl did not play by the rules. Now you know what happens when you do not play the game. What will you do little girl?"

The Basement Man got up off of the floor and picked up Racheal's head by the auburn hair and said to it, "I do love a pretty head. You will be a pretty addition to my collection. Time to put you with the others."

I watched this spectacle still in shock; this like starring in my own horror movie except everything is real. Forcing myself to stand on my own two feet, I close my eyes, take a deep breathe, and count to ten. Then I proceed to leave the same way my captor left.

I find myself in a similar room except there are no cages. There are two doors, a glass box with something black in it and a tape recorder on the floor in the middle of the room. I push play on the tape recorder and the voice of the Basement Man says, "Congratulations, you made it past the first room. In order to precede you will have to find the key which is in the glass box. The scorpions are doing a good job keeping it safe for you. Good luck."

I look at both of the doors and decide to see if they happen to unlocked because the thought of having to put my hand in a box full of scorpions does not sit well with me. Walking towards the door closest to me I reach out and grab the door hand and pull; of course it is locked. I should have known that I was not playing by the rules because I did not see the massive medieval axe flying through the air and slicing my body in half.

The Basement Man walked into the room and walked over to the body and said, "Such a waste. She should have followed the rules."