G. Wright - Broken Things

She managed a brief scream before the thing lunged forward, hands grabbing her neck and choking off breath. She dug her fingers between her skin and his hands, fighting to break its hold. How could the thing be so strong? It was unreal! Futilely she struggled, but it yanked her back hard against the seat. She couldn’t pull her eyes from the thing’s, the frozen expression of its face gave it the appearance of morbid glee, and its fingers tightened a little more.

Its breath and deathly rasp came loud next to her ear, as it pulled her head back toward its own. She felt the blood fight to pump to her head, pounding in her temples. She couldn’t seem to keep her tongue in her mouth.

With one more powerful yank, it dragged her over the seat by her neck. She struggled, but it held her easily with one hand as it reached down on the floor with the other. It returned with her hammer. It raised it over her face as it sniffed the tool. Terror swept over her as she realized that it had no intention of choking her. Fate was cruel, she remained conscious for what felt like an eternity as the thing left her unrecognizable.

The basement was unfinished. Aside from a few dusty cardboard boxes, a single bed, a folding chair, furnace, and a water heater, it was empty. Josh wandered through the room trying to find something he’d missed, maybe a window he could crawl through. Nothing broke the completeness of the concrete foundation there were no windows to provide any hope.

The promise of home seemed as far away as ever. Despite Norman’s promises, Josh had the sinking feeling that he didn’t plan on helping him, and that he didn’t want to be here when the man returned. He tried the door several times that first hour, in hopes of it magically unlocking itself, but eventually gave up.

His arm throbbed horribly. It hurt from his fingertips clear up into his back. It had grown worse, and he couldn’t move it at all. It hung limply at his side.

A single bulb lit the room, providing plenty of light in the middle, but left the rest of the room in deep shadows. Thick cobwebs plastered the walls and ceiling, and the few spiders he saw were large enough to encourage him to give them plenty of space.

The day passed slowly by, and though he grew tired, he didn’t dare rest. He needed to be awake and alert. When he heard a door open upstairs, the hair on the back of his neck rose. He quickly made another loop around the basement, but there was nothing more to discover. There wasn’t even anything he could use as a weapon. Tears welled up in his eyes. He had no place left to run.

He could hear footsteps as someone moved across the floor boards from the main floor. Something was wrong, they didn’t sound normal. Drag Thump. Drag Thump. Drag Thump . That isn’t Norman , he realized, despair flooding through him, it’s the monster .

Maybe it didn’t know where he was. But how did it even know he was in this house? If it had tracked him across the city, it wouldn’t be put off by a locked door. Briefly he considered hiding, but that left him feeling more vulnerable. It reminded him of the tent. But this time, he wouldn’t shut down. He wished he could, he wanted to be broken. It had become his only defense against the world.

Drag Thump . It moved across the floor above him. Drag Thump . It knew where he was, and it knew how to reach him. Drag Thump . Maybe it didn’t have the key! Maybe it didn’t need one. Nobody had locks inside their houses that required keys.

He realized only one option remained for him. He ran up the wooden steps to the door and grabbed the handle with his good hand. If the monster hadn’t known where he was, it did now, his own feet sounded way to loud as he’d ran up.

He gripped the doorknob as tightly as he could and waited. He adjusted his grip a few times, feeling his palm grow sweaty against the metal. He heard the monster approach the door and stop. Seconds dragged by as he waited. What was it doing? He listened, trying to separate the sound of the creature from the sound of his rapidly beating heart. Yes, he could hear it. Its breathing was still loud enough to hear through the door. No, it’s sniffing, he thought, it’s smelling me .

The door handle clicked in his hand. The monster had unlocked it. The door handle twisted in his palm. He squeezed it, but his hands were too slick to maintain a good grip, and his other hand was useless. The door pulled away from him, threatening to take him along with it, and he let it go, running back down the stairs.

In the light of the now open door, he saw the silhouette of the creature. It leaned awkwardly against the doorway. The smell of the thing instantly filled the room. It placed one hand on the banister and the other on the concrete wall and guided itself carefully down the steps.

Josh didn’t believe for a second that the creature’s difficulty meant it was weak. It still wore the guard’s uniform, but blood and gore covered it. The monster paused and reached behind it to pull the door shut. It descended the steps slowly, eyes locked on him.

Josh backed across the room until the walls prevented him from going any further. The monster reached the bottom of the stairs and took its first irregular step into the room.

They both heard the front door, the monster looked up but Josh didn’t. He kept his eyes on it. If he looked away the thing would be on top of him in seconds. It had to be Norman upstairs, but that gave him little hope.

He could hear Norman bustle about, moving around the upstairs. The monster listened briefly and turned its attention back to Josh.

It raised a bloody finger to its lips and said, “ Shh …”

It turned and walked beneath the stairs, hiding itself away in the shadows.

Less than a minute later the basement door opened and the silhouette of Norman filled it. He seemed somehow less imposing than the monster, though he walked down the stairs with purpose. Josh wanted to warn him that it was in the basement with them so he’d let him go, get him out of the house, but Norman crossed the basement rapidly and grabbed his broken arm.

Josh cried out as the man yanked the already damaged limb, but Norman ignored his pain and said, “What the Hell did you do to this place? It smells like a charnel house.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Josh shrieked. The pain in his arm felt as though it were about to be torn off.

Norman shoved him to the floor. “You’re making this difficult on yourself,” he said, “I trusted you to wait for me, not to cause any trouble. But you couldn’t do that, could you? You’ve only brought this on yourself. You’ve got to be punished, but first you’re going to tell me what you did. Get up.”

The pain brought tears flooding down his cheeks. He tried to shield his arm as Norman lashed out with a kick, and took it in the side. He decided not to warn the man about the shadow slowly approaching him from behind.

“I said get up.” Venom dripped from his words as Norman kicked him again. Josh took it in the hip. It hurt, but now he didn’t care. The creature stood directly behind the man and he still didn’t notice.

Josh steadied himself on the wall and got to his feet, wincing. He shot the man a glare and said, “There’s someone behind you.”

Norman paused in mid-motion. He’d barely begun to reach for Josh as the words sunk in. He turned, coming face to face with the monster. Norman screamed. One hand of the monster grabbed him by the hair, the other grabbed his groin. Norman couldn’t struggle but snarled and spit like an angry cat. His anger turned to shrill screams as the monster jerked its lower hand away without letting go. Cloth, flesh, and blood splattered in an arc across the floor.