The Cellar.

[Kitosdad]

It did look real eerie, but he thought it would probably be just like any other old house once you were inside of it.
Young Ronnie had passed this old house a thousand times and he had always had the feeling that the house was talking to him.

"Please, do come in and visit me."
That was the message it seemed to convey to him.
Well, not today, he had better things to do than rummage around a dilapidated old house thank you.
Maybe some other time.

The house silently sighed, it was always so.
If only the old owner had had the place renovated like he had promised so very many times, but he'd done nothing, and now the deterioration was so bad that the only probable outcome would be for the house to be demolished.
The roof, although still sound, had started to sag and buckle as the supporting timbers surrendered themselves to the woodworm that was running wild throughout the whole house.
The floors too were suffering the consequences of neglect and decay.
The windows were festooned with cobwebs, and the sun barely filtered through to the room even on the brightest, sunniest days.
Yes, the good days were long passed.
All that remained was the bulldozer and the breakers-ball.

But there in the dark, dank cellar there was something still very much alive.
Alive and slithering around.
Something that in the night slid out from the broken cellar window and into the bramble-encrusted grounds.
It feared daylight, and worse still sunlight.
For it the night and the blessed darkness were its delight.
Time and cover enough to kill and gorge itself on whatever the neighbourhood had to offer.

Often it was only mice, or an occasional rat.
It wasn't often that a cat or dog would enter the grounds, but it was inevitable one day that it would happen, and then the thing would be able to gorge itself on the warm body of a still half-alive animal.
How it longed for that day.

The weeks passed slowly until eventually Autumn arrived and the nights were becoming darker much earlier than they had in Summertime.
Young Ronnie came home from school to find the door to his home firmly locked.
His parents had obviously gone shopping, forgetting that school would be letting the children home a little earlier than usual.
The heavens opened and the rain started to fall in long wet drops.
Ronnie had nowhere to really shelter so he ran to the old house and stood below the old porch.

The thunder and lightening scared him and he leaned against the door to the old house. It opened stiffly and Ronnie found himself now inside the house that had always interested but repelled him.

Hey, this is cool, he thought to himself.
OK, it was dusty, but it seemed like a great place to make a gang-club for himself and his pals.
The room was bathed in half-light and the occasional thunder-clap lit up the distant corners of the room.
Nothing to be scared of here, he thought to himself.

As he became more relaxed he delved into the other rooms.
There was a nice sitting room and a huge old kitchen.
There were many items still laid around and he whiled away the time by looking in the cupboards and drawers.
It was still raining heavily and there was no sign of his parents car in the drive so he continued to browse around the old house.

In the hallway there was a door, from which protruded a large key.
He tried the door, but it was locked, so he slowly turned the key.
The door lock clicked loudly in the still house.

It must be the door to the cellar, he thought to himself.
He opened the door wide and peered into the gloom below.
The switch on the wall produced no light when he tried it.
He stood there for quite a while, his eyes slowly becoming accustomed to the dim light that filtered down the dark stairway.

He started to walk slowly down the stairway.
The step below his foot, decayed by years of woodworm attack, was unable to bear his weight.
It cracked and he tumbled headlong into the cellar.

The thing in the corner slowly slithered forward toward his inert body.

Kitos.
_________________
Keep it simple ... Keep it interesting.

[SkiIucK]

Very well presented, Bill.

[Kitosdad]

Thanks Ski, nice to see you are around once again.

Bill.
_________________
Keep it simple ... Keep it interesting.