* * * * *
No Way Out
"Ten bucks, huh?"
"Yep. But you've got to open the attic window and wave down to me."
"What if the window doesn't open?"
"Break it, what do I care," Chris said, taking off his rubber zombie mask.
I looked up at the old house. It was huge. Just finding my way to the stairs could take forever. "Make it twenty."
"Okay. The bet is twenty, but I keep the flashlight."
"The flashlight wouldn't be a problem if you'd brought your own. I mean, who goes trick-or-treating without a flashlight?" I said as I handed it over.
"Just get going, Mike."
Slowly, I walked to the side of the old house. The cloud covered moon cast just enough light to keep me from tripping over my own feet.
"I'll hold your candy for you."
"Fat chance," I yelled back. I musta had close to five pounds of candy in my pillowcase; we had just kept trick-or-treating until people stopped answering their doors.
The whole side of the house was covered thick with Ivy. I had to feel around for the window.
I climbed into the window and rolled onto the floor. It was so dark I couldn't see a thing, which made me a little freaked out. So, I just sat on the floor, not moving a muscle. Slowly my eyes began to adjust and my nerves calmed down.
The place was empty except for a thick layer of dust and a few pieces of furniture covered with white cloth, like you'd see in old movies. The air smelled sweet and kinda foul, not what I expected at all.
Slowly, I stood up and looked around. Chris was up to something. We'd trick-or-treated over a mile straight here. And Chris knew just how to get in. Except for that Ivy covered window, this place was boarded up tight.
He must have come by early and setup some sort of prank or maybe a booby trap. Thought he could scare me away or something and make twenty bucks in the process. No way was that happening.
Carefully, I made my way over to the stairs. With each step, the floor beneath me creaked. Not a lot of light made it in through the boarded-up windows. I shuffled my feet afraid of tripping.
I'd made it to the base of the staircase when something caught my eye. In the corner, a faint red light barely shined through an old sheet draped over a sofa.
Pausing after each step, I made my way over and slowly lifted the sheet. Sure enough, an old video camera sat recording. Checking the sheet revealed a hole just the right size for the lens.
It pointed towards the staircase. Picking it up, I messed with the controls until I figured out how to turn the spotlight on. Careful not to point it out the window, I scanned the stairs, but found nothing until I checked the ceiling. Hanging from the chandelier was another sheet, but this one draped like a ghost, it even had a face painted on it. This had to be Chris's doing; only he would think up something so pathetic.
I walked to the foot of the stairs to get a closer look. A rope hung down, went to the side of the stair rail and was strung across one of the lower steps like a tripwire. If you stepped on it, the ghost would come flying down.
"Nice try, Chris," I said into the, still recording, camera.
Heading up the stairs, each one groaned like I'd awakened it from a deep slumber.
I stopped. I swore that I heard a sound. I stood still and listened, but there was only silence. Letting out a big sigh, I started walking up.
Suddenly, something flew at my face, scratching as it latched onto me. I went backwards, managing to keep my feet under me for a couple steps, but I couldn't keep my balance.
I fell backward and smashed, rear first, into one of the bottom steps. They gave way like wet cardboard.
I felt myself falling for what seemed like minutes. The whole time, something clawed at my head.
Thud. I landed hard and threw the creature off my face. It yowled and I knew it was a cat. Candy pelted me with the force of driving hail, like busted piñata guts.
I felt a sharp pain in my ankle, but nothing was broken. Though, I figured it would be a few minutes before I could stand on it again.
Everything was pitch black. The only sound was the soft echo of the cat hissing. Carefully, I felt around for the camera. The floor was cold, metal, and sticky. It was barren except for fun-sized candy bars and Smarties scattered across the floor.
First, I found the battery. It had a large crack along its case. I figured I'd be lucky if it worked. Once I located the camera, I used my jeans to wipe the gunk off my hands, and snapped the battery back into place. The spotlight flickered on.
The cat hissed again. It stood, hair on end, a few feet away from me in the corner. Actually, it wasn't a corner; there were no corners. We were in some sort of circular holding tank. This better not be part of Chris's plan, I thought.
I started recording, just for the heck of it. As I panned around the tank, I knew I wouldn't be able to climb back up. It must have been ten or fifteen feet high, with rusty but smooth sides.
Putting one hand on a wall, I stood up. It hurt to stand on my right ankle, but it wasn't sprained, not badly anyway.
"Chris!" I yelled, shocked at how frightened my voice sounded.
I stopped the tape and turned the light off. I could just make out a faint glow coming from the broken stairwell. It was way up there. I was lucky I hadn't really gotten messed up.
I hollered to Chris for about five minutes before I stopped. I figured he thought it was real funny to make me wait. Or maybe, he was too scared to come in this place at night and ran off to get help. Either way, he was toast when I got out of here.
After a while, I got used to the darkness and the cat got used to me. It must have been wild because it wouldn't let me pet it, but at least it stopped hissing.
I sat and ate all the candy in reach, only turning the light on to make sure that I wasn't eating an Almond Joy or when the house spoke. And this house had lots to say. Creaks, moans, and thumps regularly bellowed from its gut.
Finally, when all the Snickers were gone, I heard a voice.
"M-m-i-k-e," it said feebly.
"Chris, I'm down here!" I yelled up.
"Mike, where are you?" His voice a little firmer.
"I fell through the stairs. Be careful you don't fall in."
A second later, a flashlight blinded me. "Dude, what happened?" Chris said.
"It was your stupid trap and this stupid cat. I slipped and the stairs gave way."
"My trap didn't have a cat," he said blankly.
"It was a stray -just get me out of here."
"Man that's deep. Hey, I remember seeing an old ladder upstairs. I can hand it down to you."
"Good. Just don't fall in."
"No problem, I'll jump over the hole."
"Be careful," I yelled as I pointed the camera's light up at the hole.
I saw him jump over the broken stairs and heard a thud as he landed. Then I heard something unexpected. Chattering, like champagne glasses clinking.
"Aah!" Instantly, I knew what had happened.
I stepped back against the wall of the tank. Just as a big dark mass went flying past me.
"Ouch!" Chris screamed as the cat broke his fall. It screamed too and jumped at me, then leaped away.
"Oh, man. I broke my leg."
"What, you're joking?"
"No, I heard it crack." I could hear crying in his voice. This wasn't part of his game.
"You idiot. What were you thinking?"
"I forgot about my ghost. I jumped over the hole and hit the tripwire. It flew down and startled me."
"You're a genius. Hold on, I've gotta get this on tape." I turned the camera on record and pointed it at him crumpled on the floor. "Oh, Chris, oh no." Blood pooled thick and dark from his leg.
"I told you it was broken, you butt-wad."
"This is bad. We might have to yell for days before anyone hears us. How loud was I from out there?"
He didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Tell me you weren't yelling."
"W
hat, I was yelling at the top of my lungs."
"We're hosed. I didn't hear a thing." I could hear crying in his voice again.
"Just calm down, we'll think this out." Now the camera was shaking in my hands.
"Mike, there's no way out of here. No one can hear us. The house is boarded up. We're never going to get out."