There was a sudden banging sound that came from the other room in the basement. We journeyed into the game room, and I realized that it was coming from the crawlspace.
I remember just when the house was bought I used to go in there for fun until I cut myself on a nail. It was not a fun experience, and since then I hadn't returned.
I wish he could have ignored it. I wish I could have told my parents. I wish I could have done anything other than go in.
But if it meant their wrath focused on me and not the people I loved, then so be it. It used my nails to pry open the long shut door and carefully opened it.
There was no one inside, but there was a small chest fixed with four locks.
I knew what they wanted us to do. I wasn't stupid. But even if I left it here it would still have found a way to us. I picked it up and brought it into the center of the room. My girls all looked more than just a little perturbed.
"Dude, seriously. I'm getting freaked out." Vivian tried to laugh through her fear with little success.
Naomi looked at her key and then at the chest. She said, "Hey, my key might fit this lock."
And it did. With one turn of the key the lock fell to the ground. Only three to go. I was almost helpless as each lock was freed from the chest.
"Did you plan this at all?" Naomi looked at me, curious to see my answer. I shook my head. I slid the chest ajar and found that it housed a rat skull resting comfortably on an old pocket watch. Rebecca shuddered at the sight while Florence fearlessly reached in and inspected them. As her fingers moved over the skull it cracked and turned to dust within seconds.
The pocket watch was in perfect working condition, yes, but the arms moved in the wrong direction--backwards. I held it in the palm of my hand...and then it stopped.
That's when we heard the sound of rats in the walls. The squeaking and scratching was seemingly everywhere.
The game room door slammed shut without anyone prompting it, trapping us. The lights went out, and though we were grown adults, we screamed.
The door slowly, ever so slowly creaked open. The light that came out was sterile, harsh, and I hesitated to even go near it.
But I did. I looked outside and saw that we had transported into a silent winter tundra. We were all so confused and frightened, but I saw no other way out than through. The snowflakes were thick and heavy and came down at a steady pace.
"This is impossible," Rebecca murmured. "Christ Almighty, what is going on?!"
"I don't know...I honestly don't know." I reached over and held her trembling hands. This all went against the reality she so cherished--she was probably holding back a nervous breakdown. I looked back to the silent playroom and saw that everything was beginning to rot and rust away.
The only way out was through.
We ran into the snow as the room fell to pieces, crumbling in on itself as we watched helplessly. We were stranded in a whiteout, so cold and so frightened.
Naomi gasped out, "Elizabeth! What's happening?! What was that?! Why is this--how is this--what is going on?!"
"I don't know! I just don't!" I screamed it out louder than I should have. "But this is kind of what happened on Halloween."
"Are you serious?!" Florence blurted out.
"Yeah, but this...this is worse. So much worse. I don't even know what it wants. Last time they demanded that I leave before midnight or everyone dies."
They all believed now. I wish to God they didn't. I looked around and saw nothing but grey clouds and snow as far as the eye could see. The farther we walked the worse the weather became.
And then there was an icy wind that seemed to blow right through us, the cold chilling the tips of our hair and fingers.
When I opened my eyes I saw a man, dressed all in black and a Venetian mask concealing his face (a patch covered the right eye), appeared before us. He extended his gloved right hand, as if asking to dance. We backed away from him.
Behind the man was the Fear Dubh, as black as the world around us was white. Its arms were like a gnarled, diseased ridden tree. The man still held out his hand.
In a split second I became overridden with anger. Here they were--toying not only with me, but with my dearest friends. I screamed out curse after curse, demanding that they stay away from me and the people I loved. I felt my girls' arms struggling to drag me back, but I didn't relent.
Looking back it was probably so stupid of me to even try to challenge them. There was a blinding flash of white, then nothing.
The next thing I knew I was in the woods near my once. Again. Flat on my back and my Christmas dress gone from my body (the shoes, however, were left), I laid there for a few minutes to try and process what just happened. Outside of the now functional pocket watch, there wasn't anything cryptic or useful on me or around me.
With as much dignity as I could muster, I made my way out of the woods and began the slow trek back to my house. Along the way I worried sick over my friends, my girls--where they were, if they were okay.
The rest of my family was asleep when I unlocked the front door (thank god for the spare key under the happy Santa statue). The first place I went to was the basement, and much to both my confusion and relief, it was as if nothing had happened.
The nutcracker was gone as was the chest, both of them nowhere to be seen. I was happy I would hopefully never have to see either of them again.
Much later my parents interrogated me on where I went last night and why we all left. They were fuming, which was more than understandable. I didn't know what to say or how to say it. I made up a story about how we all took long walk which ended with us getting lost. I don't think they bought it.
I'm happy to say that all four of them are fine. They were teleported to odd places around their homes (Florence in an old fire pit, Naomi in a pool, Vivian in a tree, and Rebecca in her garden). It's hard to laugh about it, since it was so terrifying, but I'm scared of what else is going to happen.
