It was so dark,

So quiet

I was afraid to move

I could feel it

Something, was there

In the dark

Waiting for me

I take, one step

And the whisper of the dust on my skin

Makes the loudest sound

. . . I move my foot again

And something starts running across the floor

Up above me

On the second floor

Back & forth

Back & forth

Like a child taken by the dark

When it stops . . .

It’s a quiet as Death again

. . . I can hear breathing now

Only . . .

I can’t tell if it’s mine or not

I hadn’t heard anything come down the stairs

But what if,

It did?

My foot bumps into something

It rolls, just barley,

across the floor

I reach out & grab for it

In my hands, I can feel what it is

A flashlight

I stand, a statue, of fear

Do I really want to turn it on?

And then, just then, I could be sure

That breathing,

–that heavy, struggling, breathing–

was no longer mine

I run blindly into the dark

Tripping, nearly, over broken floor boards

C r a s H i n g into walls

Fighting to get the flashlight on

But never to look behind me

All the while

Footsteps chasing me

It had come down the stairs

Suddenly, I f a l l

Down,

d o w n

Stairs? I wonder

A trap door in the floor?

I am unable to scream

As I go deeper into the dark

When I hit the floor

I lose grip on the flashlight

It finally flickers on

As it rolls away

My vision blurry from hitting my head

It illuminates horror

Where those old bodies?

Dead bodies?

The footsteps come running down the stairs

The loudest sound I’ve ever heard

I cried out, silently

For I knew I would be joining them