Resume:
(4)
Mitch toasts his breakfast and spreads some peanut butter on it then sits down to eat and contemplate Allen's forced entry and possible show of emotion. He doesn't know a whole lot about the Recycled Existence program but he does know that the dead aren't supposed to feel any pain or react to their surroundings in any way. 'Maybe I'm blowing this out of proportion' he thinks to himself. Mitch hurriedly finishes his breakfast so he can get started on his day. He heads upstairs to shower and get dressed figuring Allen is in no rush to get back to work. Once he is all cleaned up and ready to go Mitch heads back down to the cellar to retrieve Allen for the trip back to Value City. "Okay pal time to go back to work, just because you're dead doesn't mean you can just lounge around here" he says, trying to add a little humor to the situation. Allen of course doesn't react or smile to Mitch's words. Mitch leads Allen out the back door of the basement and around the yard to his car. 'Good thing nobody is outside right now, I'd rather not explain to the nosy people around here why I have our old, dead neighbor in my place' he thinks to himself. Mitch didn't just avoid Allen back when he was alive and living in the neighborhood, he avoids all of his neighbors. All they do is ask lame questions about work or the latest breaking news and Mitch would rather not waste his time making small talk. He isn't a rude person but he values his free time and his privacy and he feels that if he gets too friendly with these folk then they might want to stop by his place or invite him to their houses for a function. He always felt it was better to appear rude or unapproachable than to have people knocking on your door when you're watching a movie or playing Skyrim.
Mitch seats Allen in the back behind the front passenger seat so he can keep an eye on him and because he still has some old zombie prejudices in him and fears having his neck ripped out while driving. No amount of government reassurances or interaction with the dead can undo years of watching zombie movies! Mitch pulls out of his driveway and begins the short ten minute drive to Value City. Mitch doesn't particularly like going to Value City on weekends because of the amount of weekend shoppers and he is even less thrilled with it today because he doesn't even need anything there. Mitch decides to put on sports talk radio for Allen's benefit. "I know you're dead and can't understand what they're talking about but it makes me feel better about this situation if I pretend you are at least somewhat human" Mitch says looking back at Allen. As Mitch turns back to watch the road he notices another Value City zombie walking aimlessly down the street. "That's weird," he says. "Value City isn't doing a good job keeping these things on their property." For a moment Mitch thinks about retrieving the second dead employee but decides he's doing enough by bringing Allen back. 'I'll let Ray know that I saw another one on the road.'
Traveling towards Value City Mitch sees that the sky ahead is looking pretty gloomy and wonders if a storm is coming. "Ah the perfect excuse to not do anything at all with my day" he says aloud. Alternating between looking at the ominous clouds and paying attention to the road Mitch sees what looks like a shooting star fly across the sky but it looks much closer than it would normally be. This is followed immediately by another object and then another, as if they are racing in the sky. "Did you see that Allen?," Mitch asks, feeling a little stupid considering his passenger is dead. As Mitch takes a right onto the road that Value City is located on he notices that the clouds are so dark that it's like night time and he decides to turn his headlights on. 'This storm is going to be a big one' Mitch thinks while simultaneously beating himself up for never watching the weather forecasts. As they approach the Value City parking lot Allen begins to moan and grumble once again. Mitch looks in the rear-view mirror to see what is causing Allen to make noises but of course his face is an expressionless mask. Looking ahead Mitch begins to realize that this is no storm at all, something much bigger and potentially nefarious is going on. The entire Value City building is encased in what looks to Mitch like some kind thick, pulsing, dark brown slime. It's repulsive and Mitch can't believe what he is seeing! He also notices that there are a lot of cars in the parking lot but he doesn't see any living people, just zombies in Value City uniforms. "What the hell is going on here??"
Monday, March 5, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Chapter 3
Resume:
(3)
Mitch rolls out of bed at 10, surprised that he didn’t sleep longer. He must have been exhaust since he didn’t remember anything during his sleep, no dreams, no tossing and turning. He hit the sack and was out like a light. After taking care of his morning rituals he went into the kitchen poured a glass of milk and pulled the last English Muffin out of the bag. When he walked over to the silverware drawer to get a fork to open up his muffin he saw the knife sitting on the counter next to the stove and “Allen” he though how did I forget about Allen. He pulls out a fork from the drawer and sits it next to the knife and English Muffin and then heads down into the basement.
Allen is still where he left him, no change. “Hey ol’buddy, just checking in on you, wanted to make sure you didn’t hurt yourself” he can now see better as the sunlight is coming in through the small windows that are just level with the ground outside. He sees that one of them is broken and that Allen must have crawled through it but why? He walked over to the window the shards of glass cracking under his weight as they lay on the floor. Looking at the window he found traces of blood and then he looked down and saw that there was more on the ground, Allen must have cut himself pretty good on the way in, and by the amount of blood on the ground he’s lucky he’s not dead. “Well Figuratively” Mitch thinks to himself. He must have really done some damage to his body during the fall. Mitch didn’t remember seeing anything wrong with Allen when he found him earlier but it was dark and with the adrenaline flowing and then the sudden feeling of relief not to be in danger he must have overlooked it.
He walks over to Allen and finds that there is a large amount of dark blood stained on the right side of his pants. Mitch bends down to take a closer look and sees that the blood isn’t from his leg but Allen’s right hand, his wrist is broken. The hand is dangling down, fingers hanging there loose and dead, like a bloody wind chime. “Allen, man you did a number on your hand buddy, looks like you landed right on it when you fell” Mitch takes a deep breath and then reaches for his hand and lifts it up to inspect the full extent of the damage. The hand folds completely up like closing a book, Mitch is able to fold the hand so that the top of it is resting on Allen’s forearm, the muscles are torn and the bone has snapped completely. The only thing holding the hand on appears to be a few tendons and skin. Mitch releases the hand and lets gravity do the rest. It falls making a snapping sound as some of the remaining tendons snap and stretch to keep the hand somewhat attached to the body. Allen lets out a low mown as the hand comes to a rest by his side, Mitch stands up quickly and steps back away from Allen surprised that Allen would show any emotion to his damaged appendage. “Did he feel that” Mitch wonders “impossible, he can’t feel pain or rationalize what has happened to his hand” Mitch remembers a time that he visited his father on his construction site and he saw another zombie Rodrigo aka Rod-dog as the guys on the site liked to call him. Rodrigo earlier in the day had his left hand and forearm completely crushed when a pallet of cinderblocks got knocked over pinning Rodrigo under it. Somehow after they unburied him and pulled him from the ruble the only major damage was to his arm, the bones were completely broken and smashed flat. The medic cut off his arm just above the elbow and soldered the wound shut. Never once did Rod-dog show any sense of pain or discomfort. He was back to work by the afternoon when Mitch arrived to see the progress on the new shopping center. Rod-dog continued to work and could be seen trying to pick things up with both hands completely unaware that anything had changed.
Is it possible that Allen can feel pain, does he actually understand what is going on? Its impossible he’s dead. The crown only keeps the necessary motor function skills alive in the brain so that Allen can continue to be a productive member of the workforce. The rest of the brain is putty, worthless just like his hand is now. Mitch grabs a yardstick from the corner walks back over to Allen. He then starts to poke at the hand from a distance like a kid poking a dead animal with a stick. The hand swings around and nothing. No sound out of Allen, not even the slightest sense of recognition for what is happening in his face or eyes. Mitch puts the yardstick away and trades it in for a broom and dustpan. He cleans up the broken shards of glass and dumps them in an old metal trash can that he didn’t even know he had, the sound of the glass hitting the bottom of the metal can peaks Allen’s interest and again Mitch hears a low mumbling sound and sees that Allen has cocked his head to the side and is looking at him, much like a dog will do. “Alright buddy, that’s the show, I’ll let you get back to staring off into the distance and I’m going to finish my breakfast, when I’m done and cleaned up I’ll come back for you and we’ll head back to Value City and see if someone there can take care of you. Maybe our good buddy Ray will be managing today, he’ll know what to do.” Mitch heads back up the stairs, closes the door behind him. He walks over to the counter to finish making his breakfast, put his hand on the knife and opens the drawer to put it away then stops, pauses and tilts his head much like Allen and thinks “maybe not yet” Mitch closes the drawer leaving the knife next to him on the counter.
PAUSE:
(3)
Mitch rolls out of bed at 10, surprised that he didn’t sleep longer. He must have been exhaust since he didn’t remember anything during his sleep, no dreams, no tossing and turning. He hit the sack and was out like a light. After taking care of his morning rituals he went into the kitchen poured a glass of milk and pulled the last English Muffin out of the bag. When he walked over to the silverware drawer to get a fork to open up his muffin he saw the knife sitting on the counter next to the stove and “Allen” he though how did I forget about Allen. He pulls out a fork from the drawer and sits it next to the knife and English Muffin and then heads down into the basement.
Allen is still where he left him, no change. “Hey ol’buddy, just checking in on you, wanted to make sure you didn’t hurt yourself” he can now see better as the sunlight is coming in through the small windows that are just level with the ground outside. He sees that one of them is broken and that Allen must have crawled through it but why? He walked over to the window the shards of glass cracking under his weight as they lay on the floor. Looking at the window he found traces of blood and then he looked down and saw that there was more on the ground, Allen must have cut himself pretty good on the way in, and by the amount of blood on the ground he’s lucky he’s not dead. “Well Figuratively” Mitch thinks to himself. He must have really done some damage to his body during the fall. Mitch didn’t remember seeing anything wrong with Allen when he found him earlier but it was dark and with the adrenaline flowing and then the sudden feeling of relief not to be in danger he must have overlooked it.
He walks over to Allen and finds that there is a large amount of dark blood stained on the right side of his pants. Mitch bends down to take a closer look and sees that the blood isn’t from his leg but Allen’s right hand, his wrist is broken. The hand is dangling down, fingers hanging there loose and dead, like a bloody wind chime. “Allen, man you did a number on your hand buddy, looks like you landed right on it when you fell” Mitch takes a deep breath and then reaches for his hand and lifts it up to inspect the full extent of the damage. The hand folds completely up like closing a book, Mitch is able to fold the hand so that the top of it is resting on Allen’s forearm, the muscles are torn and the bone has snapped completely. The only thing holding the hand on appears to be a few tendons and skin. Mitch releases the hand and lets gravity do the rest. It falls making a snapping sound as some of the remaining tendons snap and stretch to keep the hand somewhat attached to the body. Allen lets out a low mown as the hand comes to a rest by his side, Mitch stands up quickly and steps back away from Allen surprised that Allen would show any emotion to his damaged appendage. “Did he feel that” Mitch wonders “impossible, he can’t feel pain or rationalize what has happened to his hand” Mitch remembers a time that he visited his father on his construction site and he saw another zombie Rodrigo aka Rod-dog as the guys on the site liked to call him. Rodrigo earlier in the day had his left hand and forearm completely crushed when a pallet of cinderblocks got knocked over pinning Rodrigo under it. Somehow after they unburied him and pulled him from the ruble the only major damage was to his arm, the bones were completely broken and smashed flat. The medic cut off his arm just above the elbow and soldered the wound shut. Never once did Rod-dog show any sense of pain or discomfort. He was back to work by the afternoon when Mitch arrived to see the progress on the new shopping center. Rod-dog continued to work and could be seen trying to pick things up with both hands completely unaware that anything had changed.
Is it possible that Allen can feel pain, does he actually understand what is going on? Its impossible he’s dead. The crown only keeps the necessary motor function skills alive in the brain so that Allen can continue to be a productive member of the workforce. The rest of the brain is putty, worthless just like his hand is now. Mitch grabs a yardstick from the corner walks back over to Allen. He then starts to poke at the hand from a distance like a kid poking a dead animal with a stick. The hand swings around and nothing. No sound out of Allen, not even the slightest sense of recognition for what is happening in his face or eyes. Mitch puts the yardstick away and trades it in for a broom and dustpan. He cleans up the broken shards of glass and dumps them in an old metal trash can that he didn’t even know he had, the sound of the glass hitting the bottom of the metal can peaks Allen’s interest and again Mitch hears a low mumbling sound and sees that Allen has cocked his head to the side and is looking at him, much like a dog will do. “Alright buddy, that’s the show, I’ll let you get back to staring off into the distance and I’m going to finish my breakfast, when I’m done and cleaned up I’ll come back for you and we’ll head back to Value City and see if someone there can take care of you. Maybe our good buddy Ray will be managing today, he’ll know what to do.” Mitch heads back up the stairs, closes the door behind him. He walks over to the counter to finish making his breakfast, put his hand on the knife and opens the drawer to put it away then stops, pauses and tilts his head much like Allen and thinks “maybe not yet” Mitch closes the drawer leaving the knife next to him on the counter.
PAUSE:
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Chapter 2
RESUME:
(2)
As he starts taking the steps one at a time at a pace that rivals that of an elderly person, Mitch keeps thinking to himself that it's ridiculous to be this startled over something that will surely turn out to be nothing. Like when he was a kid and he stayed up too late watching old horror movies on TV while his parents were out playing cards with friends and he would get startled by every creak in the house or the sound of the heater kicking on. He even used to check behind the shower curtain in the bathroom before he started brushing his teeth on those nights. There was never some killer with a mask and a long knife or a werewolf behind the curtain and he's positive there isn't a monster in his basement now. He thinks to himself that it was just a mouse or a rat knocking something over while scrounging around for something to eat. When he reaches the bottom of the stairs he starts to feel relieved when he doesn't immediately see anything. However, this old basement is only equipped with one light and there are a lot of corners that aren't illuminated by the single bulb. In fact you can't even see behind the massive furnace at night. Mitch starts to work his way to the back end of the basement, feeling a bit more confident and sure of himself. He is forced to duck in a few places because of the low pipes of the furnace. 'The people that built this old place must have been pretty short' Mitch thinks to himself.
Mitch turns his iphone flash light to the two small crawl spaces to his left which the landlord uses to store old doors, lawn furniture and other junk the trash man won't take and he hears that shuffling again off to his right behind the furnace. All the confidence he had just built up is suddenly gone in an instant and his heart is pounding. He keeps thinking this is the night he gets stabbed or eaten by some hideous monster. After years of watching people getting butchered, tortured, and eaten by monsters in his favorite horror flicks, it's his turn! 'Well I won't make the same mistakes those idiots in the movies do' he thinks to himself as he takes a defensive stance with the knife held back and down in his right hand toward his waist so he can quickly and forcefully thrust his carving knife into this intruder, his impromptu flashlight is in his left hand. Mitch isn't a trained fighter but he figures it's best to not present a large target while he moves toward the shuffling sound. Coming around the the furnace and flashing the iPhone flashlight out in front of him with his left hand Mitch sees the intruder and the cause of his panic and stress, a zombie.
Unlike all the zombies in the movies that seem to be flooding the market these days this zombie isn't something for Mitch to fear. Ten years ago government scientists created new technology that would allow the recently deceased to come back to "life" to serve the living doing tasks and jobs which would make life easier for everyone that still breathed. The government called it "Recycled Existence". A dead body could be programmed using a head piece that was wired to the brain. A series of monthly injections kept the skin and body parts from rotting and giving off the foul smell that dead bodies exude when decomposing. Mitch thought of it like the Frankenstein monster from the old movie. Initially the tasks were menial in nature such as raking leaves, shoveling snow, and retrieving carts at grocery stores but like all technology it evolved and became much more specialized. You could now trust a person with a recycled existence to paint your shed or wax your car. The military was using these zombies to search for IED's in war zones because it would save the life of a living soldier. People with disposable income could even purchase one of them to clean the house or walk the dog, a personal undead manservant. Corporations were also buying these recycled lives so they could fill some of their lower tier jobs and not have to pay for a living employee. In the beginning concerns were raised by human rights and religious groups. The former saw it as a violation of the person's rights while the latter saw it as a blasphemous slight against their god. To answer these concerns legislation was passed to make the recycled existence optional for people such as the organ donor program. If you wanted to have your body donated to the Recycled Existence program then all you had to do was check a box on your driver's license renewal form and your remains would be programmed and sold on the market. This quieted some of the malcontents in both camps but, as with all new programs introduced to the public, some resistance remained. Generally though most people learned to accept these "monsters" and "freaks" into society because they made life so much easier for the living. There was now more time to browse social media sites, exercise, play video games, etc because the chores were getting done by a zombie with an electronic brain ring as Mitch liked to call it.
The zombie in front of him is about his height and weight and seems to be pointlessly walking into the shelves against the wall, knocking over tools, paint cans and coffee cans full of nails and screws. "Hey, what are you doing down here?" Mitch asks the undead intruder. The zombie slowly turns around at the sound of Mitch's voice. Mitch can't help but gasp when he sees his old neighbor's face looking back at him with a dead eye stare. In life this neighbor was named Allen and Mitch used to get stuck talking to him about his beloved Orioles during the summer and the Redskins during the winter months whenever he went outside for any reason. He knew Allen was just lonely and looking for someone to talk to but there were other things that he'd rather do like watch Game of Thrones on demand or fall asleep with a beer in his hand. Allen passed away a few months back but Mitch never found out how. "Allen, what are you doing in my basement?" Mitch asked. Mitch looked Allen up and down and noticed he was wearing the uniform of a carriage retriever for the local mega store, Value City. Allen must have wandered off from Value City's parking lot and ended up here somehow. Value City was only about two miles from Mitch's place so he assumed Allen just shambled to his old neighborhood purely by chance. "Well old friend, it's nice to see you and not have to hear about the O's or Redskins for once!" Mitch said laughing to himself.
Looking at his phone Mitch noticed the time was creeping toward 3:00 am and he was exhausted now that the adrenaline had worn off. "Value City is open 24 hours but there is no way I'm going out right now just so I can return you to your new home. You'll just have to wait until later today." Mitch uses some thin rope to tie Allen to a support beam in the basement so he won't continue to make a mess of the place and heads upstairs to get some rest.
PAUSE:
(2)
As he starts taking the steps one at a time at a pace that rivals that of an elderly person, Mitch keeps thinking to himself that it's ridiculous to be this startled over something that will surely turn out to be nothing. Like when he was a kid and he stayed up too late watching old horror movies on TV while his parents were out playing cards with friends and he would get startled by every creak in the house or the sound of the heater kicking on. He even used to check behind the shower curtain in the bathroom before he started brushing his teeth on those nights. There was never some killer with a mask and a long knife or a werewolf behind the curtain and he's positive there isn't a monster in his basement now. He thinks to himself that it was just a mouse or a rat knocking something over while scrounging around for something to eat. When he reaches the bottom of the stairs he starts to feel relieved when he doesn't immediately see anything. However, this old basement is only equipped with one light and there are a lot of corners that aren't illuminated by the single bulb. In fact you can't even see behind the massive furnace at night. Mitch starts to work his way to the back end of the basement, feeling a bit more confident and sure of himself. He is forced to duck in a few places because of the low pipes of the furnace. 'The people that built this old place must have been pretty short' Mitch thinks to himself.
Mitch turns his iphone flash light to the two small crawl spaces to his left which the landlord uses to store old doors, lawn furniture and other junk the trash man won't take and he hears that shuffling again off to his right behind the furnace. All the confidence he had just built up is suddenly gone in an instant and his heart is pounding. He keeps thinking this is the night he gets stabbed or eaten by some hideous monster. After years of watching people getting butchered, tortured, and eaten by monsters in his favorite horror flicks, it's his turn! 'Well I won't make the same mistakes those idiots in the movies do' he thinks to himself as he takes a defensive stance with the knife held back and down in his right hand toward his waist so he can quickly and forcefully thrust his carving knife into this intruder, his impromptu flashlight is in his left hand. Mitch isn't a trained fighter but he figures it's best to not present a large target while he moves toward the shuffling sound. Coming around the the furnace and flashing the iPhone flashlight out in front of him with his left hand Mitch sees the intruder and the cause of his panic and stress, a zombie.
Unlike all the zombies in the movies that seem to be flooding the market these days this zombie isn't something for Mitch to fear. Ten years ago government scientists created new technology that would allow the recently deceased to come back to "life" to serve the living doing tasks and jobs which would make life easier for everyone that still breathed. The government called it "Recycled Existence". A dead body could be programmed using a head piece that was wired to the brain. A series of monthly injections kept the skin and body parts from rotting and giving off the foul smell that dead bodies exude when decomposing. Mitch thought of it like the Frankenstein monster from the old movie. Initially the tasks were menial in nature such as raking leaves, shoveling snow, and retrieving carts at grocery stores but like all technology it evolved and became much more specialized. You could now trust a person with a recycled existence to paint your shed or wax your car. The military was using these zombies to search for IED's in war zones because it would save the life of a living soldier. People with disposable income could even purchase one of them to clean the house or walk the dog, a personal undead manservant. Corporations were also buying these recycled lives so they could fill some of their lower tier jobs and not have to pay for a living employee. In the beginning concerns were raised by human rights and religious groups. The former saw it as a violation of the person's rights while the latter saw it as a blasphemous slight against their god. To answer these concerns legislation was passed to make the recycled existence optional for people such as the organ donor program. If you wanted to have your body donated to the Recycled Existence program then all you had to do was check a box on your driver's license renewal form and your remains would be programmed and sold on the market. This quieted some of the malcontents in both camps but, as with all new programs introduced to the public, some resistance remained. Generally though most people learned to accept these "monsters" and "freaks" into society because they made life so much easier for the living. There was now more time to browse social media sites, exercise, play video games, etc because the chores were getting done by a zombie with an electronic brain ring as Mitch liked to call it.
The zombie in front of him is about his height and weight and seems to be pointlessly walking into the shelves against the wall, knocking over tools, paint cans and coffee cans full of nails and screws. "Hey, what are you doing down here?" Mitch asks the undead intruder. The zombie slowly turns around at the sound of Mitch's voice. Mitch can't help but gasp when he sees his old neighbor's face looking back at him with a dead eye stare. In life this neighbor was named Allen and Mitch used to get stuck talking to him about his beloved Orioles during the summer and the Redskins during the winter months whenever he went outside for any reason. He knew Allen was just lonely and looking for someone to talk to but there were other things that he'd rather do like watch Game of Thrones on demand or fall asleep with a beer in his hand. Allen passed away a few months back but Mitch never found out how. "Allen, what are you doing in my basement?" Mitch asked. Mitch looked Allen up and down and noticed he was wearing the uniform of a carriage retriever for the local mega store, Value City. Allen must have wandered off from Value City's parking lot and ended up here somehow. Value City was only about two miles from Mitch's place so he assumed Allen just shambled to his old neighborhood purely by chance. "Well old friend, it's nice to see you and not have to hear about the O's or Redskins for once!" Mitch said laughing to himself.
Looking at his phone Mitch noticed the time was creeping toward 3:00 am and he was exhausted now that the adrenaline had worn off. "Value City is open 24 hours but there is no way I'm going out right now just so I can return you to your new home. You'll just have to wait until later today." Mitch uses some thin rope to tie Allen to a support beam in the basement so he won't continue to make a mess of the place and heads upstairs to get some rest.
PAUSE:
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Chapter 1
Build a Story:
“THE OPENING”
Mitch arrived home late, relieved to finally be home from work. “Twelve hours five days in a row, that shits for the birds” as he pulls a cold beer from the fridge. Finally two days of sleeping in till noon, sports, and video games he thinks to himself as he drops down into the couch and grabs the remote. “Well DVR, what you got for me today” scrolling past archived episodes of Game of Thrones, Happy Endings, Californication, he finally settles in for a mini Doctor Who marathon. Happy with his selection he puts his feet up on the coffee table and takes a sip of beer.
Mitch wakes up, sees that its 2:21 am and notices that he’s done it again, fallen asleep on the couch and awoken to a half empty beer and a damp couch. “Not again, damnit, I get more beer on my couch then I do in my stomach” he babbles to himself as he walks to the kitchen to get a roll of paper towels for the mess. “Way to go Mitch, you don’t have a bed wetting problem you have a couch wetting problem, at least now its beer, in college it was worse” Mitch’s mind starts to wonder as he cleans up and he continues to talk to himself. “fuck I’m tired” as he yawns and blots the beer stain on the couch. “Well that’s good enough it’ll dry by morning” He grabs up the wet paper towels and picks himself up off his knees. Walking into the kitchen paper towels in one hand, scratching his junk with the other he glances over at the oven and sees that its 2.29am and he starts to reminisce about the good old days back in school when he would just be coming back from the bar at this time full of booze and pizza. Then suddenly he hears a crash in the basement coming from below the kitchen.
Startled by the sound Mitch jumps and is taken over by a mixture of fear and curiosity. When Mitch moved into this old home he was always worried that it might be haunted. It was built in the early 1920’s and he was told that an elderly lady had died in this house over 40 years ago. But that was all put at ease when he found out that the past tenants and been there for almost 20 years. He had never seen anything or heard anything unusual in the past 6 months since moving in, but he was still and had always been spooked by the basement. It's damp, unfinished, poorly lit, and there are doors that lead to nowhere. He always felt uncomfortable down there and hadn’t been down since moving into the house. Now there are sounds coming from the basement and it looks like the streak is about to come to an end.
Mitch walks to the door, listens and hears nothing. “Nothing is a good thing” thinking to himself “and if I don’t hear anything for another minute or so I can chalk this one up as it being late, me being tired, and the wind…yeah the wind” One minute passes and still no sound, relieved he starts back into the kitchen, opens up the trashcan and drops the wet beer soaked paper towels inside. He pauses for a second listening and then moves towards the bathroom. After the excitement he had almost forgot that he needed to pee. “Alright fella lets do this and then get the hell to bed, where I can just cover my head with a sheet and ignore the old lady ghost” finished he shakes it off and then flushes the toilet, Crash, again he hears sounds in the basement, this time multiple crashes as if everything on the shelves down there is falling over, glass breakings, old paint cans hitting the ground. ‘Its just the pipes” he tries to tell himself, he did flush the toilet and then the noise began, “its an old house, with old pipes, I’ll get a plumber out here tomorrow to fix them in the morning” More banging around , more glass breaking, “shit it's not the pipes”
Now with an empty bladder and nerves of aluminum, Mitch starts to walk back towards the basement door. He grabs his favorite knife from the drawer and his iphone, thumbing through it looking for the flashlight app. Mitch puts his left hand on the door handle, and holds the iphone in his right along with the knife ready to jab at the first thing he sees. Mitch can still hear shuffling around in the basement and each time a little bit of Mitch’s bravery slips away. “ok Mitch you can do this, a couple deep breaths and then like a ninja, we’ll slice and dice”… he releases a deep breath “here goes” he adjusts his right arm which had been raised up level with his head down closer to his side so that he will have a better stabbing motion “common buddy, you’ve seen enough movies, I’m sure that fighting just comes natural, the pacifist guy always beats up the bully in the movies so fight or flight, fight or flight” He takes another deep breath and releases, starts to twist the door handle and stops again “what am I doing I cant go down there like this not with this knife, what if I find something down there and I stab it, I’ll never be able to eat with this again.” He goes back to the drawer and swaps out his steak knife for a larger carving knife and then takes up his position again at the door. Now it's go time, Mitch takes hold of the door handle twists and begins to open the door slowly.
Mitch shines the iphone down the stairs and onto the walls just beyond the door looking for the light switch, he sees it on the right hand side and flips it up using the knife blade as he stays perched on the main level, yet to put his feet onto the stairs. The lights flicker and then turn on, he listens. Ghost are scared of the light, everyone knows that so it must be safe now, thinking to himself as he builds up courage to start downstairs.
PAUSE:
“THE OPENING”
Mitch arrived home late, relieved to finally be home from work. “Twelve hours five days in a row, that shits for the birds” as he pulls a cold beer from the fridge. Finally two days of sleeping in till noon, sports, and video games he thinks to himself as he drops down into the couch and grabs the remote. “Well DVR, what you got for me today” scrolling past archived episodes of Game of Thrones, Happy Endings, Californication, he finally settles in for a mini Doctor Who marathon. Happy with his selection he puts his feet up on the coffee table and takes a sip of beer.
Mitch wakes up, sees that its 2:21 am and notices that he’s done it again, fallen asleep on the couch and awoken to a half empty beer and a damp couch. “Not again, damnit, I get more beer on my couch then I do in my stomach” he babbles to himself as he walks to the kitchen to get a roll of paper towels for the mess. “Way to go Mitch, you don’t have a bed wetting problem you have a couch wetting problem, at least now its beer, in college it was worse” Mitch’s mind starts to wonder as he cleans up and he continues to talk to himself. “fuck I’m tired” as he yawns and blots the beer stain on the couch. “Well that’s good enough it’ll dry by morning” He grabs up the wet paper towels and picks himself up off his knees. Walking into the kitchen paper towels in one hand, scratching his junk with the other he glances over at the oven and sees that its 2.29am and he starts to reminisce about the good old days back in school when he would just be coming back from the bar at this time full of booze and pizza. Then suddenly he hears a crash in the basement coming from below the kitchen.
Startled by the sound Mitch jumps and is taken over by a mixture of fear and curiosity. When Mitch moved into this old home he was always worried that it might be haunted. It was built in the early 1920’s and he was told that an elderly lady had died in this house over 40 years ago. But that was all put at ease when he found out that the past tenants and been there for almost 20 years. He had never seen anything or heard anything unusual in the past 6 months since moving in, but he was still and had always been spooked by the basement. It's damp, unfinished, poorly lit, and there are doors that lead to nowhere. He always felt uncomfortable down there and hadn’t been down since moving into the house. Now there are sounds coming from the basement and it looks like the streak is about to come to an end.
Mitch walks to the door, listens and hears nothing. “Nothing is a good thing” thinking to himself “and if I don’t hear anything for another minute or so I can chalk this one up as it being late, me being tired, and the wind…yeah the wind” One minute passes and still no sound, relieved he starts back into the kitchen, opens up the trashcan and drops the wet beer soaked paper towels inside. He pauses for a second listening and then moves towards the bathroom. After the excitement he had almost forgot that he needed to pee. “Alright fella lets do this and then get the hell to bed, where I can just cover my head with a sheet and ignore the old lady ghost” finished he shakes it off and then flushes the toilet, Crash, again he hears sounds in the basement, this time multiple crashes as if everything on the shelves down there is falling over, glass breakings, old paint cans hitting the ground. ‘Its just the pipes” he tries to tell himself, he did flush the toilet and then the noise began, “its an old house, with old pipes, I’ll get a plumber out here tomorrow to fix them in the morning” More banging around , more glass breaking, “shit it's not the pipes”
Now with an empty bladder and nerves of aluminum, Mitch starts to walk back towards the basement door. He grabs his favorite knife from the drawer and his iphone, thumbing through it looking for the flashlight app. Mitch puts his left hand on the door handle, and holds the iphone in his right along with the knife ready to jab at the first thing he sees. Mitch can still hear shuffling around in the basement and each time a little bit of Mitch’s bravery slips away. “ok Mitch you can do this, a couple deep breaths and then like a ninja, we’ll slice and dice”… he releases a deep breath “here goes” he adjusts his right arm which had been raised up level with his head down closer to his side so that he will have a better stabbing motion “common buddy, you’ve seen enough movies, I’m sure that fighting just comes natural, the pacifist guy always beats up the bully in the movies so fight or flight, fight or flight” He takes another deep breath and releases, starts to twist the door handle and stops again “what am I doing I cant go down there like this not with this knife, what if I find something down there and I stab it, I’ll never be able to eat with this again.” He goes back to the drawer and swaps out his steak knife for a larger carving knife and then takes up his position again at the door. Now it's go time, Mitch takes hold of the door handle twists and begins to open the door slowly.
Mitch shines the iphone down the stairs and onto the walls just beyond the door looking for the light switch, he sees it on the right hand side and flips it up using the knife blade as he stays perched on the main level, yet to put his feet onto the stairs. The lights flicker and then turn on, he listens. Ghost are scared of the light, everyone knows that so it must be safe now, thinking to himself as he builds up courage to start downstairs.
PAUSE:
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