by Tim Wellman
"What movie did you get that from?" Susan said.
Junie opened the door. "Come on, let's get this over with before Theo collapses under all that weight on her back." She led the way, flipping on the light switch as she started down the old wooden steps. "Kinda rickety, guys, wait till I'm at the bottom before you follow me down." She put her feet on the hard dirt floor of the cellar and walked around a small stone wall that formed part of a separate room designed just for canned goods and potatoes over a hundred years ago when the house was new and people needed such rooms.
"Is it safe?" Susan said. She started down the steps. "Junie?" There was no answer. She stopped and Theodora bumped into her. "Shit!"
"Sorry," she said. Just get down the steps before we fall through."
"Junie?" Susan said again. "Where you at, girl?"
"Jun?" Theodora said.
Suddenly Junie jumped out from behind the stone wall. "Boo!" Susan jerked back, knocking Theodora onto her butt.
"You bastard!" Susan yelled. "Scared the fuck out of me!"
To make things worse, Junie was wearing a huge old white hat, draped in white silks and holding plastic flowers in the band that had turned black, with a see-thru veil covering her face and shoulders. "Is it possible for a girl to be a bastard?"
Theodora had made her way past Susan and was standing in front of Junie, pointing the EMF detector at her. "Human."
"I always thought so," Junie said. She pulled the hat off and tossed it onto a bench lining the wall. It made a noisy landing, disturbing several old yard tools, empty cans, and boxes of junk.
Theodora was walking around, pointing the electronic device at anything that looked the least bit suspicious. The needle didn't move.
"Just what are we supposed to be looking for?" Susan said.
"Theo's sanity," Junie said.
"We're looking for anything that doesn't belong," Theodora said. "Anything weird."
Both teens pointed at Theodora. "Found it!"
Suddenly something caught Junie's eye and she walked across the floor and picked up an antique toy sheep. "Wow, this is silly looking. Looks old, though. Might have been grandma's from way back."
"It's cute," Susan said. "In a creeped-out sorta way. Diggin' that wooly afro on its head. What's that shit all over your hand?!"
Junie quickly tossed the sheep back onto the bench top. Her hand was covered with some sort of dark, thick liquid that must have come out of the toy. "Yuck! It's like oil or something!"
Theodora was already pointing her device at Junie's hand. She then reached back in her pack and pulled out a big magnifying lens and looked at it more closely. "Interesting."
"Find me an old rag! Ooh shit, icky!"
Susan grabbed the old hat. "Here."
Theodora had taken her pack off and had produced a small vial and a cotton swab. As her big sister was wiping the stuff off her hand, she took a swipe and dropped the end into the vial and jiggled it a bit. She held it up to one of the naked light bulbs hanging from the low ceiling and the other two girls took a look, too.
"Can you tell what it is?" Susan said.
"It's hard to say," Theodora said.
Both girls thought for a moment. "You really have no idea what you're doing, do you?"
"Come on, weird kid, don't let all this stuff you bought from an ad in a comic book go to waste!" Susan said. "Just make a wild guess."
"Blood," she said.
"No!" Junie said.
Susan took a closer look at the bench where the toy had sat for so long. She rubbed the tip of her finger over the area, looked closely at it, smelled it. "Ahh!"
"What?" Junie said.
Susan held her finger out so the others could see it. "I got a splinter!"
"Tonight on 'Investigating The Paranormal', three girls find nothing but stupid-assed jokes," Junie said. "Yuck, my fingers are still all sticky."
Theodora started jerking her head back and forth, as if she were having a fit or something had taken control of her.
"Theo!"
Susan grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Hey runt, you okay?"
"Fine! Fine, stop shaking me!" Theodora said. "I was just making my headlight move back and forth on the wall."
"You little... you scared the hell out of me!" Junie said.
Theodora pointed to the wall. "No, watch." She started moving her head back and forth again. "Do you see that? There's like a door frame there in the wall."
The two teens looked as Theodora continued flicking the light over the area.
"Oh, I see it," Susan said.
"It must have been an old root cellar or something that got sealed up later," Junie said. "But dad told me once that his granddad had built the benches and stuff down here, like a hundred years ago, so it was sealed up before then."
"Well maybe it's the doorway we're looking for," Theodora said. "The hundred years' seal is fading."
"Hundred year's seal?" she said.
"I'll loan you the DVD," Theodora said.
Susan walked over to the area and stood at one end of the workbench that was blocking the wall. "Come on, Junie, get the other end. Let's lift this out of the way so we can get a better look."
Junie shook her head, but lifted the other end anyway, and they moved the bench away from the wall. Theodora was right about the doorway, or at least the stone-worked door facing. The doorway itself had been bricked over and was now old and crumbling. There was nothing obviously suspicious about it, though.
"This is nearly falling over," Susan said, as she pushed against several bricks. "I can almost push through it."
Theodora hit a brick with her little hammer and it literally crumbled to dust and they could all smell a musty odor as the closed room beyond the door breathed for the first time in ten decades. "Get something bigger," she said.
"Hey, mom and dad will kill us for tearing a hole in the wall," Junie said.
"Fuck that, man, it's starting to get good," Susan said as she picked up a big sledgehammer and with a great deal of struggle, managed to swing it under-handed into the base of the brick structure. She made a big hole, and then they all stepped back. One-by-one, the bricks started to move, and then suddenly they all crumbled into a heap. "Woo!"
They looked through the doorway. "Theo, move your head so the light shines in there," Junie said.
"It's empty," Susan said. "Poo!"
"What were you expecting, hell's giftshop?" Junie said. "I told you there was nothing weird about any of this."
Theodora tilted her head down to get a look at the floor. Unlike the floor they were standing on, it was made of wood inside the doorway. "What is that?"
Both girls looked closer at the spot Theodora's light had illuminated. "Metal? Something metal?" Susan said. "Gold?!"
"Looks like an old window latch or something," Junie said.
"Let's go in and look around," Theodora said.
"No, it's too dark in there and there may be rats and spiders," Junie said.
Theodora opened a flap on her backpack and pulled out two flashlights. She handed them to the girls and then hoisted the pack back onto her back. "Completely prepared."
"You going first, weird kid?" Susan said.
Junie flicked on her light and pointed through the opening. "I'll go first, but you guys watch where you step, the floor is probably rotten." She stepped over the pile of bricks and bounced a couple of times on the floor. It seemed solid enough. "OK, come on in."
After a quick look around at the walls and ceiling, it was obvious the room was completely empty. "Musta cleared it out when they sealed it up," Susan said. "Oh well, we gave it a shot. Let's go back out there and steal some way-cool retro outfits!"
Theodora stopped her light on the latch, again. "It's attached."
"What?" Junie said.
"It's a handle," she said. "There's a door in the floor."
"Well, let's see where it goes!" Susan said. She reached down but Theodora grabbed her shoulder.
"
No!" she said. "This is the third barrier... the cellar door, the door we just knocked down, and now this one."
"So?"
"It's like the holy trinity or something, right?" Junie said.
Theodora nodded. "Demons love to mock the bible. Like when those ghost hunting guys on TV get scratched, there are always three welts."
"Oh, what a complete load of bullshit," Susan said. "OK, if we're not going to open it, let's go."
"I didn't say we weren't going to open it," Theodora said. "But, we have to prepare first." She slid her backpack off again, and then rummaged through until she pulled out a bible. She thumbed through, with her head tilted down, until she found the passage she was looking for. "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads."
Suddenly, there was a loud thump, then the entire door started shaking and rattling as if something large and powerful were trying to get out but was still restrained in some way.
All three girls jumped back and screamed at the same time. It was even more than Theodora had expected and she froze on the spot.
"Screw opening it! Run!" Junie said and literally picked up Theodora by the waist and carried her out of the room with Susan close behind.
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!"
As they approached the steps leading out of the cellar, the entire structure began to wobble, and then collapsed in front of them, leaving them no way out.
Junie sat Theodora down and knelt down in front of her. "Is it safe? Are we safe? Did that thing trap us down here?!"
Theodora looked scared. Very scared. "We're safe. The... the steps just fell apart because the ground was shaking."
"Are you sure!" Susan yelled. "'Cause I don't feel so fucking safe right now!"
"I'm not sure," she said. "I'm just a little kid!"
The door inside the room rattled again and all three girls screamed again.
"I don't want to die!" Susan said. For the first time she was really upset and was crying. And Junie also had tears streaming down her cheeks.
There would have been something that sealed the doorway a hundred years ago," Theodora said as she paced back and forth. "In the movies, there's something that always stops demons from getting out, something holy that the original demon hunters leave behind."
"Blood?" Junie said. "Isn't it blood, or..." She ran across the floor and picked up the sheep. "The blood of the lamb!"
Theodora's eyes lit up. "That's it!" she grabbed the toy and paused for a moment, and then ran back into the room.
"Theo!"
Theodora quickly swung the toy and the liquid splashed out onto the old latched door and a horrible, demonic moan shook the floor. Junie had caught up with her and was standing right behind her. "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, I command thee to remain sealed for a hundred years more!" the little girl shouted, her voice cracking, but strong. It went quiet except for a barely noticeable scratching sound from under the door, but when Theodora sat the bible down on it, the scratching stopped and the only sound was her and her sister's heavy breaths.
"Is that it?" Junie said.
"I think so," Theodora said. "But, we have to reseal the other door with the lamb's blood, too. She grabbed her backpack and they walked out of the small empty room together.
Susan had been standing by the door to the room, not mustering the courage to go back in with the others, but decidedly not a total coward. "So?"
Theodora motioned for the teens to stand back, and then she swung the lamb again, forming a cross in blood on the floor in front of the fallen doorway. She waited for a moment, and then shrugged. "I guess that's it."
Then suddenly the old bricks started reforming themselves, rapidly rebuilding the door. The girls could only watch, their mouths open, more in awe than disbelief, now.
"Hey!" A loud voice yelled from behind them and they all jumped and screamed. It was Junie and Theodora's father, looking down from the cellar door. "What the hell happened?"
"We, uh, we came down to find something and the steps fell apart!" Junie said.
"That's it!" Susan said. "That's exactly what happened! And nothing more!"
"Except for the demon locked up down here," Theodora said.
Junie slapped her on the back of the head. "Shush!"
"Are you hurt?" he said.
"No dad, we're fine," Junie said. "We just can't get out."
"OK, hold on, I'll go get the aluminum ladder from the barn," he said. "Damned stupid kids, you could have been killed! Anyway, I guess with no steps to get down there anymore, it'll keep you kids out from now on."
"I don't think we'll ever come back down here!" Susan said. "Not even for free clothes!"
"I think it's okay now for at least a hundred years," Theodora said. She walked back to the bench and sat the toy down where they had originally found it. "Anyone want a cheesy cracker or a candy bar?"
Thursday's Child
There had been nothing on the news about the disappearance of a child. Heather Combs sat down on the edge of the bed in the cheap motel and thumbed through the local morning news shows with the remote. She was expecting the child's parents to make... what was it called... an emotional appeal, followed by the police profilers nailing her right down to her breast size and color of her panties. But no, there was nothing about the kidnapping at all. Surely the girl's parents would know by now and would have reported it to the police. The house would most certainly be full of blundering cops spitting bits of donuts everywhere and the heavy, dreadful cloud of knowing a child was missing spoiling the mood for everyone. But it was as if it hadn't happened. Heather looked over at the child, sound asleep on the bed. It had happened. It was her first kidnapping and according to every television show she had ever seen, everything followed the familiar script except the silence by the press. She saw the kid in the new subdivision playing in her big yard in front of her huge house, waited until dark, then broke in and grabbed her. Simple as that, really, she hadn't thought about it much, a plan, consequences. She just got pissed off at her mother, started driving around, and ended up committing a capital crime. After a ten minute drive in her old car, they ended up in the motel room, slept all night, and now no one seemed to care.
She reached over and smacked the kid's butt with the back of her hand. "Wake up, victim!"
The little girl rolled over and then jumped up quickly. "Eggs and bacon!"
"What about a lead pipe upside your head if you don't shut the fuck up?" Heather said. She stood up, walked across the small room, and grabbed a cigarette from the top of the television. "Ya know your phone number?" She pointed with the cigarette.
"Number?" She rubbed her eyes. "Oh, I remember now. You're the woman who kidnapped me last night!"
"I ain't a woman, I'm seventeen. And ya better start answering my questions or you're goin' to remember me beating the shit out of ya."
"I'm six, you silly bitch. How can I remember a phone number?" She hopped out of bed and walked around the room, found a plastic bag, and looked inside. There was no food. "My number is on my cell phone, but since you forgot to kidnap that, too, you're screwed." She scanned the teen up and down with a smirk on her face. "Seventeen, huh? Pretty bold move for a scrawny teenager. It's usually smelly old men."
Heather bit her lip and narrowed her eyes. "I ain't been around kids a lot, but ain't you supposed to be all sweet and shit? Scared out of your little mind 'cause your momma ain't here to hold ya?"
"Yeah, well, I was like that once, but being sweet don't get you shit in this world, sister. You should have learned that by now," the child said. "But, you did kidnap someone without knowing the phone number to call with the ransom information, so I'm guessing you're not working with all the lights on, if you get my drift. I learned, forced peopl
e teach me, forced myself to get smart. It's about survival, sister." She laughed. "Or mental illness. Not sure."
"Enough!" Heather yelled. "Get back on the fuckin' bed, smart-ass, and don't move!"
"But, I need to..."
"Now!"
The little girl climbed back onto the bed, lifted her sleeping gown, and then pulled her panties down and began peeing.
"What the hell ya doin'?!"
"I was trying to ask, but you seemed very determined that I should get back on the bed," she said as she finished and pulled her panties back up and adjusted her gown. "Oops, I just left a bunch of DNA evidence, didn't I?"
Heather opened the drawers under the television cabinet, and then moved to the table beside the bed. "There's got to be a phone book around here! What's your name?"
"Victim!" the little girl said and snickered.
"Dead Girl In A Roadside Ditch if you don't tell me!"
"Lisa Marie Lovins," she said. "But... well, you'll see. Give them a call. You remember the address, right? Use information. The number is..."
"I know that number." Heather sneered at the child and then dialed the operator on the motel phone. "Yeah, I need the number for the Lovin's residence in Big Hills Estates, Huntington, West Virginia. Huh? Well shit!" She slammed the phone down. "Unlisted!" She looked behind her but the little girl wasn't on the bed. "Hey!"
Suddenly, she felt excruciating pain in her foot, and as she jerked her leg, it hurt even more. Lisa was on her knees in front of her, and had just driven a large knife through her foot, pinning it to the floor. The child backed away quickly, then looked up and smiled. "You wanna get some breakfast? I need a big breakfast before I feel like doing anything in the mornings."
"Fuck!" Heather reached down and pulled the knife out of her foot and threw it at Lisa, but she rolled out of the way and the knife lodged in the wooden floor again until the girl wiggled it out and held it toward Heather. She had more to worry about than an armed child, mostly what the armed child had just done to her foot. Blood was pooling on the floor every time she took a tortured step, but she managed to make it to the bed and sat down. "You little bitch!" She pulled the sheet off the bed and wrapped it around her foot, then pointed at the child. "I'm going to cut your fucking hands off!"
