"Oh, man! What a smell! I've never been this close to the basement before! Wheeew!" Tony plugged his nose and tried not to breath too much. "C'mon, Hurry up, wouldja?"
Knealt down in front of the door Jessie favored him with one of her most venumous looks. "I'm working as fast as I can! Have you ever tried to pick a lock, Tony? No? Then just shut up!" Tony half jumped back before he heard a sharp *click.* "We're in."
An almost living darkness greated them as the door squeaked inward. Tony would almost swear that it wasn't cut by the beams of their flashlights, but that it actually absorbed them, like some sort of living fungus. This thought was quickly thrust from his mind as his eyes adjusted and the first worn step appeared from the gloom.
Jess was the first to go, as always, and Tony was hot on her heals. He never really minded walking behind her, anyway. At the bottom of the stairs there was another door, this one unlocked and slightly ajar. Just inside Jess found a light switch and both were temporarily blinded as the world was engulfed in a brilliant white light.
Tony soon decided that his first impressions were wrong and that the one dusty lightbulb was only marginally better than their own flashlights. "There, see? Just a boiler. Probably where the throw the trash. That would explain the stench, right?"
"Yeah, well, I'm not done yet." Jessie responded, her curiosity far from satisfied. She went over to the boiler and looked it over. "Man! This thing is big enough to burn a body! A whole mess of 'em, actually!" Opening the large door and peering inside she didn't see Tony roll his eyes and wave his hands in the air.
"Ok! You done yet? I've got better things to do than sit around some stinky basement twidling my thumbs." He thought about this for a moment before he realized that it wasn't true. He had no life, and no place else to be. Jessie's scream derailed his train of thought. "What's wrong? Jess??" He shouted, rushing to her side.
"Just wanted to see how much you cared!" Jess laughed for a whole minute, almost.
"Are you done?" Tony was about to just leave her here, give her a taste of her own medicine.
"Not quite." Jess was pointing to a large burlap curtain dividing the room. "I just wanna see what's over there and we can go, ok?" Tony nodded. "...chicken." She whispered.
Anthony leaned up against the boiler and watched her cross the room and disapear around the curtain. Jessie screamed. "Oh no, not this time, Jess, you didn't think you could fool me twice, did you? How dumb do you think I am?" He sauntered over to the curtain and pulled it aside with a melodramatic flourish. He looked to what it had been so dutifully covering and almost screamed himself.
A blind child sat on a stool before them. His eyes had been gouged from their sockets. He wasn't breathing. He looked to be about four years old and was tightly clasping a battered teddy bear who had certainly seen better days. Just before the lights went out Tony could have sworn the boy moved.
Anthony fiddled with his flashlight for thirty seven seconds. It felt like an eternity before light was again part of his world. He panned the room carefully and suddenly realized that Jess was no where to be found. He looked around somemore before the steady beam of his flashlight began to fade. He heard a noise from behind him and spun around. The last dying rays caught the little blind boy, hugging his teddy close and standing by his stool. The light went out, again. A high-pitched voice penetrated the darkness.
"Let's play."
Anthony woke in a hospital room three days later. His right arm was fractured in three places and he had a severe concussion. He couldn't remember what had happened after that terrible night, or what had become of Jessie. He didn't sleep well for months, and finally turned to sleep aids. He became addicted to the magic little pills, and was content to wallow in his own self pitty for months.
A year later, to the day, Anthony Flynn visited the place where he lost his best friend. He was hesitant to enter the now condemned school, but decided he had to face his fears. Besides, it was daylight, this time.
Anthony descended the steep, foul-smelling stairs to that room of horror with a knot in his stomach and a lump in his throat. He passed through the door and passed to the center of the room. He didn't notice the door close behind him. Didn't notice the small feet moving swiftly across the floor. All he heard was Jessie's sweet voice.'
"Hello, Anthony. Let's play. How it changed my life:Ok. I'm done.
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