What Lay Beneath

All I could see from above was just a thin set of metal stairs spiralling down into a dark abyss.

I quickly rushed outside to grab a candle and in the process of lighting it I managed to bump my toe on a side table.

"Shit!" I managed to yell out in between sharp jolts of pain as I lay on the floor grabbing at my injured foot.

"What are you looking at?" I blinked away the unshed tears as I noticed that the cat was back and silently judging me as she occasionally licked at her paw, as if mimicking me in a way.

I decided to ignore her as I inspected my toe one last time and stood up.

Trying to shake off the uneasiness creeping up my body I limped forward towards the stairs.

"Here goes nothing" I breathed out with a sigh slowly stepping down the stairs holding the candle closer to me.

The moment I felt my foot touch the rough floor a strong breeze suddenly blew towards my face almost blowing out the only source of light in this darkness.

"What the hell?" Was there a window down here,

I couldn't really see much as I franticly looked around me,

the flickering light not helping.

I immediately felt a sense of dread, like I had entered forbidden territory.

The air and atmosphere in this place felt entirely different compared to the rest of the house, cooler, thicker and more heavy.

At this point the voice of reason in my head was screaming for me to leave,

I was deeply uncomfortable as I subconsciously rubbed at the goose bumps appearing on my arms.

Yet, I couldn't leave, not yet at least, I felt restricted in this tight space, feeling it close on me.

I cautiously moved around afraid of tripping over something again as I searched the room from one corner to the other.

"A piano?" I mumbled mindlessly.

Trying to distract my myself I placed the candle on top while I randomly pressed on a key "doesn't work", there was a hint of disappointment in my voice.

As I tried to move onto inspecting the next object, I suddenly felt something rub against my foot as it passed.

Shrieking I jumped back and pressed against the wall behind me,

my voice echoing in the small space, mixing with my heavy breathing.

"You little shit!" I sharply inhaled,

trying to catch my breath "You!" I pointed to the black furry creature narrowing my eyes.

She seemed to be watching me smugly as she stood at my feet.

"You know what, I hate to admit it but somehow I feel safer now that you are here"

my voice was more gentle now as I nodded at her "it's weird I know".

Tilting her head, she pointed her nose to the stairs "You are right we should leave" I nodded as I picked her up and headed for the stairs.

I felt another powerful breeze,

this time from behind, blow through my hair,

managing to blow out the candle successful this time.

"Ugh seriously" I gently placed the kitten on the ground while pulling the matchstick out of my pocket.

"Wait here okay, I just need to close this window before we go" I spoke to her over my shoulder as I held the lit candle in front of me once again.

"Just wait there okay" I pointed to the place she was standing, all she did was a soft 'meow'.

Turning around I stepped forward until I stood in front of what seemed to be a giant canvas half covered with a large white fabric.

"Where is the window?"' I looked around, scratching at my hair in confusion.

Without realising I stepped on the corner of the fabric draping down onto the floor accidently uncovering what lay beneath.

"Huh" I felt my body frozen as I stood there unblinking, the canvas was painted black,

and the weirdest thing was, it felt...alive and breathing.

I felt a shiver run down my spine as I was hit with another gust of wind,

except this time I knew exactly where it was coming from, it was...from that thing.