Be Holden

Chapter 5: Creak

You leave the room and tip-toe to the room that the black gloved guy was in. He is not in there. You briskly walk down the stairs and you see the front door is open again. The sky looks ominous above the trees. A fierce thunderstorm is on its way. You close the door and it slams shut. The sound echoes through the house. Whispers dance in the air. They hauntingly lure you to their source. The kitchen door is open. You walk up to the kitchen's pantry. Then you hear distant creaking. The empty pantry stares back at your wide eyes. The creaking abruptly stops and the whispers get louder. You knock on the wood of the pantry and it echoes.There is a hollow space behind it!You pull on a shelf but it does not move the whole pantry. You push the blockade down. The whispers become silent. The blockade smacks the ground and a small vibration passes underneath your feet. It is a dark, dank basement. The musk of mold and wet wood permeates the air. You walk on top of the pantry cover to find that it was balancing itself on top of the first step of the stairwell. You moved back and kicked the fake pantry back and to the side. Then you begin your descent down the old wooden stairs with a familiar sounding creak accompanying your every step. There are tree roots dangling from the ceiling.There is no tree above this room, right?

Heavy footsteps sound off in the kitchen. You run the rest of the way down the stairs. Instincts tell you that you must explore more. You run into a dark room without a door. From the shadows, you watch a shadow bend and put the blockage back in place. Whispers starts again somewhere behind you and you turn slowly. You feel the air shift before your face. Shortly afterwards you hear whimpers. You walk to the whimpers. Trepidation in every step you take. You touch a smooth circular structure. It is fleshy and lacks bumps or hair. Bright blue eyes open and the whimpers cease as you gently rub the bald creature's head. You hold the sides of its face to realize that the creature is quite thin. Its eyes are so bright you look away briefly only to try to prepare your eyes for the blinding, blue light again. When you look at it again, it turns and looks up. You see its hand wrap around a bony leg. Its attention was transfixed on the skeleton laying in an open blackcasket that is leaning on the wall with a tattered, washed out black gown sitting on the skeleton in it. The skeleton's wrists were tied with dead, brown vine. "What is this?" You ask the creature. " 'Tis my master.'Tis my friend. In which, my adoration will not ever end. I have to mend the broken promises. We are in a place that will not ever end. To my master, I must tend." The creature whispers.

"Who is your master?"

"My queen's wanderlust has been quelled time and time again. The price is paid in many slain and she receives pleasure filled pain. In the end, the lover's gain with faint, scraggly scratches on a back that was once plain."

Its cryptic phrases perplex you. You walk until you reach a wall in the darkness. You flatten your palms and rub the wall as you slide left. Your left palm drops when the wall stops and you walk into another black space. You move into the space and your foot brushes a step. You climb up steps and pull the barricade down. The fake pantry hits the floor. You realize you are back where you started. This time the kitchen door is shut. You hear heavy footsteps above you from the kitchen ceiling. You scramble to put the blockage back in place. The footsteps run down the stairs towards the kitchen as you steady the empty pantry. "What are you doing?" The black gloved guy says to you. Did he kill that translucent woman? He probably knows that there is a creature behind this thing worshiping a skeleton. You look at him with wide eyes and take your hands off of the pantry shelf. "Why is the pantry empty?" You ask him.

"It is empty because it just is."

"What is going on around here? Who is that somewhat transparent lady?"

"Forget about her. You should not be down here. Mating season has started. It's not safe for you here."

"If you won't tell, I am going to go out there and find out!"

Your index finger points to the kitchen door. He huffs and leaves the kitchen. He did not take your threat seriously. You stomp out of the kitchen door and run straight. You hear howls and roars in the distance. You keep running into the woods that are becoming increasingly foggy. An apparition giggles near a tree before you and all you see is blonde hair blowing on the tree trunk's side. It disappears. You turn but the fog is now walls encircling you and directing forward. Your determination pushes you forward. Quickly, the scenery around you changes as you charge through. When the threatening sky is replaced by a bright sky without a visible Sun, you stop running. You look around and see maidens running between the trees with glee. You follow them. You do not know why but you did it as though it was the reason you came into the woods in the first place. I am here to have fun and they will lead me to all of the fun. I know they will.

You follow them back to a waterfall. A male lures the translucent woman you know into the water. I should tell her to stop. "Wait!" You yell. She looks back and recognizes you. She hides behind the male in an attempt to evade you. The maidens stop laughing and look at you. "I have to talk to you!" You say. The male growls and yells ancient gibberish at you. You move forward and the maidens begin to scream like sirens. They are sirens! Their mouths stretch to unnatural lengths. He bares his big, sharp canines and his eyes glow orange, hazel. She tries to run away and he grabs her arm with a contorting hand. The abnormal bending of his fingers allows them to twist around her with ease. "You should be able to get out of his grasp! You are not solid." You say to her. "I can't! He will strip energy from me, if I try to get away from him that way." She says. She snaps her fingers and a whip made of bone appears in her free hand. She whips his arm and the whip rips his arm off. She outsretches her newly freed arm with an open hand behind her. In midair, a golden double door appears behind her and opens. An enormous black widow spider crawls out and weaves the male into its web.