The Dead of Night

As I crept down the old, wooden staircase, the groaning and moaning got louder. With each step I took, the smell got worse and worse. I could hardly breathe, the hair on the back of my neck was standing straight up on end, and my heart was racing faster than it ever had before. The anticipation was killing me. I finally reached the bottom of the stairs; it was so dark down there you could not see a hand in front of your face. I coughed and gagged from the horrific stench, “Mrs. Vanelli? Are you down here?” I called out anxiously. There was the sound of feet shuffling across the floor, it sounded like it was getting closer. I shined the flashlight around the basement, “Hello?” I asked nervously. Looking around that dark, creepy, cobweb filled basement, it started to worry me even more on what could possibly be down there.

Seconds later, the light came upon a small figure standing in the back corner facing the wall. I walked slowly towards it, “Mrs. Vanelli? Is that you? Are you hurt? If you are, I can help you,” I said as I nervously reached my hand out towards it. The second I touched its shoulder, it slowly started to turn around. My eyes widened; my jaw dropped. It was her. Her eyes were blood shot red, her bottom lip was drooping, and she had bite marks with blood running down the front of her nightgown. It looked like something had torn a huge chunk out of the right side of her neck. I was so scared; I dropped the bat on the floor at my feet and it rolled away into the darkness. “No… no… this can’t be happening!” I internally repeated. Slowly, I started to back away, completely and utterly in shock with that I just witnessed. My mind went blank, and those awful shivers ran down my spine. It was like my brain went into buffer mode after you lose internet connection while on YouTube.

Standing at the bottom of the stairs, frozen in time, there were footsteps walking through the house above me. My eyes could not leave the horrifying abomination that was standing right in front of me. A voice echoed through the stairwell, “Michelle? Where are you? Wait… Where is my wife!?” Moments later, a loud scream came from upstairs. “AHHH HELP! SOMEONE HELP!” Just as I looked towards the staircase and shined the flashlight up the stairs, it was Frank! He had pulled himself across the floor to the top step, “HELP ME!” he yelled as he reached down the wooden steps for me with blood dripping off his hand. He was being attacked… being eaten alive by one of those things right in front of me. All I could do was stare in horror, unable to move or speak. Suddenly, everything goes black. My phone died. Of course, it just had to die at a time like this. I honestly thought I was done for... finished... dead. Feeling paralyzed with fear, I stared into the dark abyss for what felt like hours. My eyes slowly started to adjust in the darkness, and the thought of getting out of there before it was too late filled my clouded mind. All I could think about was dying right here, right now. Without hesitation, I turned and started running as fast as I could up the creaking, worn out stairs, but it was not fast enough. A decaying, bloody hand reached out from between the steps and grabbed my right pant leg, making me trip up the stairs. I smashed my left knee and dropped my phone between the railing spindles, causing the screen to shatter as it hit the concrete floor. I quickly looked back to see where Joanne was; she was heading right towards me. I struggled to try and pull myself free, but its grip was just too hard for me to break away from. At that point, I was preparing myself for it to sink its blood stained, rotting teeth into my right calf. I closed my eyes once again, embracing myself for the painful bite I was about to endure.

In that moment, something encouraged me to stop being such a coward. I could not go out like this, to die here this way, so I decided to give it one more try. I opened my eyes; Joanne was right there in front of me, stumbling her way up the steps. With all of my might, I pulled and ripped my right leg out of the hand of that being from under the stairs, and gave Joanne a swift kick to the chin. I somehow managed to crawl backwards up a couple steps, but with my luck, Joanne was knocked off balance and fell right on top of me. We were now face to face. We were so close; I could smell the rotting human flesh on her breath. I knew she would rip me to shreds if I did not do something, anything. “Of all things, really?! Come on…” I thought, while struggling to keep Joanne off my chest. I turned my head to quickly glance up the stairs; the one that attacked Frank had its face buried in his intestines having a full on feist. Joanne lunged towards my face, I could feel myself getting weaker and weaker trying to hold her back. I did not know how much longer I could hold her; I knew my time was almost up. The only thought in my mind at this point was, “if there really is a god… please… don’t let me die… not like this… I beg you… please!” Suddenly, the sound of what seemed like more shuffling feet came from the top of the stairs. Now, I knew my life was over; I was finished. As terrified as I was, I turned my head to look up and see what it was. A figure started to form in the dark. Joanne’s teeth were getting so close, they were grazing the hairs on my neck; I closed my eyes tightly, struggling to hold her up any longer. Out of nowhere, a blade sped past my head, and hit the walking corpse right between the eyes. Joanne’s bloody, torn apart body fell on top of me; I rolled her off and her body tumbled down the steps. "Come on!" a voice yelled down to me. In shock, all I could do was sit there as I tried to process what was going on at that moment, and who my rescuer had to be. "Babe, move your ass, now!" the voice yelled to me again, standing there anxiously with a flashlight. I snapped out of the daze I was in and scrambled up the rest of the stairs.

A pair of hands grabbed my shoulders as I tried to run by the person that just saved my life. I whipped back around and looked them in the face with tears in my eyes. It was him, Damien. My heart skipped a beat, and it felt like it dropped into my stomach. I was so overwhelmed with every possible emotion you could think of, I collapsed into his arms and burst into tears. Damien wrapped his arms around me, let out a huge sigh of relief, "what the hell do you think you were doing? You could have been killed!" he said while looking me in the eyes with frustration. I looked around and saw 2 bodies lying on the kitchen floor, it was Frank and the walking corpse that killed him. I shut my eyes and buried my face into Damien’s chest, "I'm sorry... I just thought I could... I didn't mean to..." I replied frantically trying to catch my breath. A moment had passed, and the other rotting, flesh eating corpse that grabbed my leg, made its way to the bottom of the basement stairs. Before I could say anymore, Damien looked at me, “do you trust me?” he asked anxiously, “I need you to trust me… can you do that?” With fear in my eyes, I looked at him and nodded. He grabbed my hand and lead me to the back door. Damien turned the knob; it was locked. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end once again. Kind of like that gut feeling you have when someone or something is staring at you, but nobody is there. I gulped; my heart was in my throat. I took a deep, terrified breath, and slowly turned around, hoping it was nothing except my PTSD acting up. There it was, standing at the top of the stairs in the basement doorway. I grabbed Damien’s sleeve tightly and pressed my back up against him. He looked back towards the kitchen; his eyes widened. Damien went to reach for his knife, but it was not there. It was still stuck in the skull of Joanne, who was lying at the bottom of the basement stairs. Damien looked around the kitchen frantically, “DAMIEN!” I yelled to get his attention. He reached for my hand, “I have an idea, you ready?” he said smirking, “read for what?” I asked in confusion. Damien looked at me with that adorable smile I love so much, “do not let go”, he said as he grasped my left hand tightly. Seconds later, we ran across the kitchen. Damien shoved the stumbling corpse down the stairs, closed the door and out through the front door we went. When we got outside onto the front porch, nothing could prepare us for what we saw next.