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𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 : 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐋

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"Do we go look for what's making that sound?"

"Jesus, Blaire, do you want to get killed?"

"Killed? How could we get killed?"

"We don't know what could be making that noise!"

"We won't know unless we look."

I did find it hard to take a few steps forward but I found my stride, where it ultimately disappeared in front of the staircase. The L-shaped staircase had a resting spot where it turned and I knew immediately that was where the sound was coming from.

It was the only spot that made sense.

"I think it's coming from there," I whispered once Pandora had followed, standing a few inches behind me, looking over my shoulder.

"The big stair?" she asked, voice barely a whisper.

I nodded.

"How do we even know it's coming from there? How do we know if anything is even below it?"

Thunk!

"Does that answer your question?" I murmured, wanting to take a fearful step backwards because that could be anything. For all we both knew, it really could've been a killer lying in wait.

Pandora moved bravely, inspecting the staircase and asked me over her shoulder, "Do you have a basement?"

I shook my head. "No, only this floor and upstairs."

I fought myself to move forward, I didn't have to be afraid. I grew up in this house, there was nothing to be afraid of...right? I got onto my knees on the first few steps, resting my ear against the floor of the large step and knocking.

The sound made my heart sink and my blood run cold, a sudden deep chill running down my spine. Nausea rolled through me and it was difficult to swallow as a lump formed in my throat. Oh god, oh god, oh god. I sat up, staring as Pandora crouched down next to me and asked, "What happened? What'd you hear?"

"It's hollow," I croaked out, turning to look at her with wide eyes. "Like, what the fuck?!"

"We have to find out what's in there, don't we?" she asked in a small voice.

I swallowed thickly before nodding, "Damn right we do, but-Jesus-I've lived here my whole life! And I've just now learned there's a secret room underneath the stairs, like what the-"

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

My eyesight went gray around the edges and I blinked twice, three times, working the sudden blur out of my eyes as I sat dumbfounded. There was a soft pounding in my head, at the base of my skull and behind my eyes and I brought my hands to my forehead. I ran my fingers across my face, pulling at my skin, trying to work the pain out as I groaned, "We need screwdrivers."

We searched the kitchen and cabinets, finding two screwdrivers in the drawer by the sink. I held mine tightly in my hand, actually afraid of what we might find underneath the staircase. Could there be a secret room? Like the ones people find in old homes or creepy apartments? A whole basement we didn't know we had, left boarded up for reasons unknown?

But you know why, you know what evil is hidden there, what they're trying to keep locked away.

When we crouched down across from one another, we worked the screwdriver heads under the floorboards, pushing down on the tools to pop the boards up.

We shoved up four boards in the shape of a square and we stared down at the little door we unearthed. The silence that echoed from us was definite. How even our breathing went silent, the air suddenly very thin.

Do you really want to know what's under there? Do you really want to face what's hiding in that darkness?

"Who knew I'd be doing this with the new girl," Pandora laughed to herself, shaking her head. "Opening a trapdoor in the stairs." When she looked up at me, there was a curious look in her eyes that mirrored mine. "I don't want to seem like a chicken or even a coward, so this is the only reason I'm saying this so bear with me--I'll go find the flashlights."

She was saying exactly what I was thinking and in my head, I applauded her for being the first to say it. There was no way we weren't going to open it and go inside, not when we'd gotten this far. She craved the name adventure I did, the urge, the curiosity to find the reason behind all of this. So, when she returned to the stairs with two flashlights from the kitchen, surprisingly in the same drawer with the screwdrivers, I opened the door.

Dust flew into our faces and I coughed, turning my head away from the musty smell that escaped the black hole that called out to us. Come in, come in, it seemed to say, and I knew I couldn't stay away, not now. I could see the floor inside the open trapdoor, cement walls and a cement floor.

I took one of the flashlights and clicked it on, shining it down into the vast emptiness. I leaned my face closer, tilting my head to catch a good look at how big the room was and I frowned, "It looks like a tunnel."

"A tunnel? How--?"

"I have absolutely no clue." I looked up at her and felt a sudden rush of adrenaline and excitement as I opened my mouth to speak but Pandora cut me off, saying, "Nope, nope, don't you dare say it, Blaire. Don't you dare say we have to go down there--"

"We have too!"

"Why?! Why do we have to do that!" she shouted, smacking her hands against her thighs. "We cannot go into that dark, creepy hole in the stairs, okay? Absolutely not! How about we just close the little door and put everything back where it came from--"

I didn't let her finish before swinging my legs into the open hole and pushing myself off the edge and into the dark. It was surprisingly uncharacteristic of me, but something in my gut was drawing me inside, a welcoming sick feeling.

A tug on the invisible cord.

"Goddammit," Pandora whispered from above as she stared down at me from the opening. It was the only light shining in and I caught a look around. It only led one way and even with my flashlight, it didn't show me the entire room. "Move over," she murmured, a slight shake to her words as I stepped aside so she could jump down. 

Getting back out wouldn't be too difficult but it would require the upper body strength I doubt either of us truly had. The only relief I had at an escape was that the opening was close to the wall so we could use that to help kick our way out.

With the light from her flashlight, it helped give us more insight into what we had descended into. Everything was made of cement, the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. Like a grave, or a crypt, a long, long, tomb. I walked forward, running my hands over the wall and finding it cold to the touch. Everything was cold down here, merciless to the heat from above.

"Do you feel a breeze?" Pandora mumbled next to me as I held my hand out and my gut sunk a little further into my body when I felt it. It was soft, but it was there.

The air moved down here, as if there was an open window.

"I really, really, really don't want to go any farther, Blaire," she said and I could hear the fear in her voice. I felt her reach out and fumble with my arm, trying to pull me back but I stayed put, my eyes on the darkness before us.

"We can't just leave," I said back, looking at her from over my shoulder. A part of me was terrified to turn my back on the emptiness. "I mean, come on, we just discovered a hidden tunnel under my staircase. What other teenager can say they've done this? Definitely not Cassandra Blake."

"It's not the tunnel I'm afraid of," she murmured and I looked back into the darkness, the fear slowly closing in on us the longer we stayed put. "It's what we'll find."

"Just one look, we'll go down and we'll come back. We won't stop, we'll just see where it leads and come straight back. Besides," I smiled, hoping it made her feel better but a part of me knew I was only doing it to make myself feel better, "how long can it really even be?"

When she finally nodded, we walked cautiously down the tunnel. Everything was the same as we went, the walls and ceiling and floor never changed from their cool cement. And the trapdoor in the stairs seemed to be the only entrance and exit.

The air was cooler the farther we went, and when I'd run my hand against the wall, my fingertips came off slightly damp. The cold feeling like ice, the sweat on the back of my neck was chilled. The breeze tugged at my shirt, it was gentle and soft but came with dread.  Like something dead. There was an uneasiness at being down here, how we couldn't see anything farther than what our flashlights lit up, everything beyond us was darkness.

A vast emptiness slowly being filled by our presence.

"Why's it getting colder?" Pandora whispered, rubbing her arm with her free hand. She looked around cautiously, her light moving over the ground. I couldn't tell if what was across the ground was dirt or a thin layer of dust, but our feet left wobbly prints in our wake.

I held my arm out, suddenly stopping her as I ran my light across the ground because this couldn't be right. This couldn't be right at all.

Please god, let this be a mistake. Just a trick of my eye, something I'm imagining.

"What? What's wrong?" she gasped, the sound of her voice searching for a way to turn back and escape.

"There's footprints," I murmured, crouching down and looking across the ground with the light and seeing the pathway of feet in the dust. They weren't large by all means, sort of dainty, slender like a woman's. I chalked this up in my mind as belonging to mom, even though I knew no living thing had gone down here in years.

"How-how is that possible?"

I shrugged and I felt my brain scream at me to turn around. To turn around and take off and never stop.

"Does that mean--?"

She couldn't finish her thought and I thanked her silently for not voicing it. I didn't want to hear it, I didn't want to think about the single track of footprints down in the dark, away from the only entrance. I didn't want to think about who or what could've been lurking before us amongst the shadows, hiding where we couldn't see.

"We have to go back, Red--"

I stopped her, standing and smiling. "Red?"

She sighed, rolling her eyes as she explained quickly, "Come on, cute nickname, you have semi red hair, alright? Thought it'd be fun, kind of quirky, whatever--"

"No, no, I like it."

She rolled her eyes again and rushed out, "We should get out of here, okay? I do not want to see who those tracks belong too, alright? So let's go--"

Thunk!

"Oh god," she breathed and I heard the terror in her voice as horror crept into my veins, unwanted and surging like a goddamn tornado. "Oh god, oh god!"

Thwack! Thud! Thud! Click!

"What the hell is that? What the hell is that?!"

I was frozen in place, the fear was cold and icy, taking over my limbs like a plague. I couldn't move my legs, barely could open my mouth as I searched the darkness that looked nearly gray, the headache working its way back into my terrorized brain. Warping against my eyes and the base of my skull, scratching and pleading to get inside.

I finally got my arms to move, bringing my hand up with the light, shining it over the darkness before us. We hadn't even reached the end of the tunnel yet and I could barely see the light from the open trapdoor from behind us.

I took a daring step forward and Pandora instantly hissed, "You cannot be serious right now? Don't you dare find whatever is making that sound--" I took another step and she was whispering harshly, "--Blaire, goddamnit! If you go, then I have to go and I don't want to go!"

"Just stay there--"

Come to me, the darkness sang and I felt that tug in my gut saying to keep going. Discover the truth, discover our secrets.

"No way in hell I'm staying by myself! Have you, like, not seen any horror movie, ever?! This is where we freaking die!"

"It'll be quick--"

"Don't try and be the brave hero, let's just be the cowards, okay? Let's be the cowards, right now!"

Thud! Thud!

"Who's down there?" I called out, surprised to find myself speaking so loudly. What the hell was wrong with me? Didn't I know anything from scary movies? Don't call out to it, never call out to it, it only makes it known. It makes it real. "Whoever it is, come out!"

"What are you doing?!"

I looked as closely as I could, squinting my eyes to see through the darkness. I could almost make out the end of the tunnel, the wall before us, maybe fifteen feet ahead of us, maybe. Whoever or whatever was down here was only fifteen feet ahead, if anything was there at all.

Pandora grabbed my arm and I let her pull me back as I yelped and said, "I think the end is right there, let's just go to the end--"

"Absolutely not," she huffed, pulling me back. The urgency in her voice told me to ignore my own desperation to go forward and go with her back to the entrance. "We are getting out of here, now. We are going to go back to your living room, maybe order a pizza because I get hungry when I'm stressed out and I'm really stressed out!"

I kept my arm on her as our flashlights began to flicker and I frowned, hitting mine against my leg. "I swear my mom just put new batteries in these like three days ago."

Classic horror movie trope, Blaire.

Pandora's began to flicker before going out completely and she let out a strangled yelp, digging her nails into my arm. Mine flickered a couple more times but kept its steady stream of light as we walked quickly back towards our only other light source.

I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up as a chill went down my spine, feeling as if I were living through a real scary story that's told over a campfire. Two girls, alone, creeping through the darkness when they hear a sound. They're not alone. 

A sickly feeling of true fright pushed down on my shoulders as I felt a gentle tug on the ends of my hair. I tried to ignore it, maybe it was just my imagination, right? I'm just trying to find ways to freak myself out, it's not even real.

I felt it again, not once but twice, then a third time.

"Pandora?" I whispered, finding myself walking fast as I asked, "Did you just pull on my hair?"

I saw her face in the dim light, her skin a ghostly pale before I couldn't see it at all. My flashlight died and we were cast into near blackness as the screams erupted from her and then me, animal like and completely feral as we took off running.

We collided against each other as we scrambled for the trapdoor and I pushed Pandora against the wall, hitting her back as if that helped her pull herself up any faster. I kept looking behind me, half expecting something to come crawling out of the darkness on all fours, spitting and biting for us.

I grabbed Pandora around the legs and lifted with whatever strength I had, most of it fear induced, as I helped lift her up. She crawled out from the hole and reached down for me, holding her hand outstretched.

"Hurry, hurry up!" she screamed and the panic that filled both of us was sudden and crushing. My heart felt like it could've leapt from my chest and my head was pounding so loudly, I was actually terrified I would pass out down there and never be able to get out.

I jumped up, grabbing hold of the sides of the exit, using my feet against the wall to climb up as Pandora tugged against my arms. For a moment, just for a brief moment, my feet dangled and kicked at the air and I felt the breath against my ankles. I felt the cold touch of something dead.

I couldn't help the screams that came from my mouth as I kicked desperately as Pandora helped drag me out and away from whatever was trying to get out with me. When I was out, I turned feverishly, accidentally knocking my flashlight into the darkness as I slammed the trapdoor shut. We grabbed the floorboards and laid them back where they had come, the two of us breathless as we sat on our knees trying to calm down.

It was faint when it sounded, and it sounded like it was deep into the tunnel underneath us but still noticeable.

Thud...thud...thunk!

I swallowed thickly and stood, finding my legs just as wobbly as my voice, "How about we order that pizza, yeah?"

~

The pizza came forty minutes later and we sat in silence as we ate in the living room. The silence between us was horrific, not even our chewing made a noise as we ate. I could barely even hear my own breath that was still fighting not to be labored.

The pepperoni pizza helped fill the emptiness I was feeling in my stomach, like the terror had wiped everything out of me. Pandora was on her third slice when she said, "I think, sometime this week, we go to the Clandestine Church. Check out what's really so bad about it, right?" She stared off somewhere in front of her, eyes wide as she picked off a pepperoni and ate it off her fingers.

"So, after everything that just happened, you still want to even be my friend?" I laughed, propping my feet up on the coffee table.

"That was the most thrilling hang out sesh I've had my whole life, probably the only thrill I'll ever get," she shrugged, biting into the crust. She spoke with food in her mouth, but in a rather polite way, "I'm not giving that up and this might shock you, but I actually like you. I like how when we talk, it's real and there aren't awkward silences. Our silences are rewarding, you get me?"

I nodded and her eyes met mine. "The church then, later this week. See what Ace is really talking about."

"You think he might be right, about your father?"

I paused, because I didn't know what to think. After the tunnel, I didn't even know to believe. "Do you really think we have a group of serial killing grandpas running around?

She tried to hold back her laughter, "Who knows, maybe after all of this, Ace will be right. He'll be the most sane person around."

She left later that evening, taking home with her an empty cookie tray and a few extra pieces of pizza. I cleaned up our mess, throwing the pizza box into the recycling and putting my books back into my bag. I left my mom the pizza she requested earlier (coated in banana peppers, of course) in the microwave with a little note, along with a small bag of cookies.

I knew how draining the end of a long shift could be for her, so I made sure she had at least a semi-decent meal. I sat at the island, accepting new follow requests on my phone but I couldn't help how my eyes wandered.

How they drifted and turned to look at the staircase.

How strange it all was, how I've lived here my whole life and never once thought I would find what I found today. How there's been a whole other side to this house, something so descriptive and dark it had left me and Pandora shaking.

A part of me never wanted to open that trapdoor again but the other part screamed at me to go back, to search until I found the source of the noises. We had been so close, we would never have known if it was staring us right in the face before our lights went out. How close it could've been to us without us even knowing.

It could've crept right beside us in the darkness, hiding itself against the emptiness our eyes struggled to see through. And I wanted to find it. That dark, scary, twisted part of me wanted to find it and stare it straight in the eyes and tell it that it didn't scare me, that it doesn't scare anymore.

That this is my house.

I stood from my seat, grabbing my phone and slipping it into my back pocket as I reached for the only flashlight that had returned from the small journey. I went to the stairs and pried the floorboards up, placing them to the side.

"You're crazy for doing this," I muttered to myself but still didn't stop.

I pulled open the trapdoor, letting the door fall against the staircase as the darkness welcomed me like a lost friend. Open arms and open jaws, ready to strike and devour.

I let my legs enter first, sliding myself off the edge before plunging myself into the deep like a twisted tourist, not giving myself the chance to back out. I clicked my flashlight on and looked around, this was my chance to go to the very end and discover what had been making those noises. To stare death in the face and hopefully laugh.

The first thing I noticed was that the flashlight I had knocked into the tunnel wasn't where I had last seen it drop. It wasn't even around the opening, where it would have rolled away. It was like it wasn't even here in the first place. So I moved with caution, letting my light fall upon the walls and the ground. It was cold, just like before, leaving the hairs on my exposed arms rise.

I ran my free hand over the wall, feeling the coolness sep into my fingertips as I walked. It felt different, being here without Pandora. Everything beyond my light was dark, the darkness so deep and uninviting that it looked empty, as if I kept walking, I'd fall into a great pit and be lost forever.

Although my legs felt like jelly and I was regretting my decision to come down here, I kept moving. I went with a purpose, shining the light over the walls as I took it all in, seeing things I hadn't the first time.

The walls were discolored in spots, like something had splashed across them unexpectedly. It wasn't mold or even water marks, something worse. I moved the light to the floor, noticing engravings streaking the ground, like someone or something had been dragged away unwillingly. Like someone didn't want to reach the end of the tunnel as much as Pandora did.

The footprints we had discovered earlier were still there, starting up in the deeper parts of the tunnel. It wasn't close to the front, where our prints were seen jumbled together from our hurried steps. But I couldn't help the terror that soaked through me when I would spot the prints that didn't belong to me nor Pandora.

But I kept moving, that small sliver of sanity left in me screaming and banging against my head, pleading for me to turn around. It was screaming louder and louder the closer I got to the end.

The tunnel curved slightly, moving to the left and I saw it before I heard it.

The light flashing.

Click! Click! Click!

My flashlight was turning on and off around the curve of the tunnel. Something was turning it on and off, taunting me. The flashlight in my hand flickered and I prayed it would turn off as I moved slower, suddenly terrified to find whatever was turning the other one on and off.

Click. Click. Thud!

This is now or never, Blaire, I thought to myself as I had a sudden rush of fear and sickly adrenaline course through me. I rounded the slight turn and held my light out in front of me like a weapon and froze. My flashlight stood at the end of the tunnel, against the wall. The light was on, no longer flashing but it stood perfectly upright, illuminating the ceiling.

I didn't want to go forward and take it back, my feet glued to where I stood. The air was cooler here at the end, it was thin and it was difficult to breathe like I was up a mountain or deep within a cave. Maybe it was the panic attack coming to my chest or maybe it was just the fear alone, but it left me rooted to the spot and terrified. It took me a good moment to force my legs to move, taking a tentative step forward when both the light on the ground and the one clutched in my hand turned off, casting me into the blackness.

I let out a scream so sudden that my throat was burning. raw and angry. I couldn't see a thing around me, I couldn't even see my hands right in front of my face. I backed away from the end, backtracking as quickly as I could, tearing back towards the entrance while my screams died on my lips.

I rounded the small curve and I could see the light at the end when I felt it grab my hair, giving it a hard tug that sent me reeling. I yelped, grabbing at my scalp as I stumbled backwards from the force.

The flashlight in my hand clicked on and my eyesight went fully gray and amidst my screaming I thought to myself, am I having a stroke? I'm going to die down here, I'm going to fucking die down here! Everything around me in the tunnel was a light gray, my world devoid of color.

The woman in front of me though, casted in the same gray and wearing an old long dress, frowned. Her transparent body floating just a few inches from the ground, her feet bare and dirty, she looked angry. No, disappointed. I couldn't stop my screaming as I held my hands up over my face as she looked me up and down, sizing up her prey. She said one thing before my eyes rolled back into my head and my back hit the ground.

"Hmm, I thought you'd be taller."

hehe u know i had to edit this baby too. dont mind me editing this first book for the second time like a psycho all over again

I hope you guys like it so far and let me know what you think about Pandora (aka my sweet angel baby) in the comments

vote/comment or the thing in the tunnel will get u :)))