Ike Hamill - The Vivisectionist

“Is this the attic?” asked Jack.

“Nah, can’t be — the ceiling isn’t slanted,” replied Stephen. “It would slope up.”

Stephen pointed his light at the floor and walked cautiously away from the ladder. The wall he encountered was framed, but not finished. He was looking at bare studs, through which ran power and water pipes.

“It’s like we’re inside the walls,” said Stephen.

“Thick walls,” said Jack. He had headed the opposite direction and discovered the room was about ten feet wide.

“Let’s try this way,” Stephen pointed.

The room turned out to be significantly longer than wide, and they walked thirty feet before they reached another wall.

“Should we break through?” asked Jack. “Feels pretty solid.”

“I think it’s like brick or something behind here,” said Stephen.

“How about the other direction?” asked Jack.

They headed towards the ladder and then past it. In this direction, the room continued for while and then took a ninety-degree turn right. After rounding the corner, they stopped in their tracks. Ahead of them, just in view of their flashlights, they found the top of the other ladder and the mechanism to lower it down. The whole apparatus looked sticky with red dye. The ladder didn't draw their attention though — their eyes locked on the shiny blades affixed to the ceiling.

“That’s the deathtrap,” said Jack slowly. “Those things would have swung down and cut me in half.”

“I think you’re right,” said Stephen. “Good thing you turned around.”

Approaching carefully, the boys gave the blades a wide berth.

“Jeez, that is pretty dangerous,” said Jack.

“Only because we didn’t have the plans then,” said Stephen. “What triggers those things?”

“Hard to see,” said Jack. “We shouldn’t leave Ben alone downstairs. I’m going to go get him.”

“I’m going to keep looking up here,” said Stephen.

“Be right back.”

When Jack got back down to the white room, Ben hadn’t moved an inch.

“Hey man,” said Jack.

“What’s wrong?” asked Ben, not looking up.

“We found the trap on the other ladder,” said Jack. “Look, I think you should come along. It might be dangerous alone.”

“What makes you think it’s less dangerous for us to be together?” asked Ben.

“Because we’ll help each other out,” said Jack. “Plus we have more chance of seeing something.”

Ben didn’t answer.

“I said I was sorry we didn’t tell you about the map,” said Jack. “Sorry,” he repeated and paused. “But I think together we can figure this thing out. And I really want to figure it out.”

Jack started to walk away, back to the ladder, and then he turned around — “Can you just come with us this time and then you don’t have to come back?”

Ben looked up and studied Jack. “Okay — just this time though.”

“Cool,” said Jack. He reached out to help Ben up, but Ben got up on his own.

When they caught up with Stephen he was past the death trap and sitting on the floor. Jack’s eyes registered only black beyond Stephen.

“There’s a hole,” said Stephen.

The floor was missing just past where Stephen sat. The boys couldn’t see the bottom of the hole. It spanned about eight feet.

“Oh wait,” said Jack. “I’ve got a penny. I’m going to drop this. Ben, can you time it? Everyone be quiet and listen for it to hit.”

Jack held the penny over the hole and waited for Ben to set up the stopwatch on his watch. “On three — one, two, three!”

When Jack released the penny, Ben started his stopwatch. They barely heard the penny hit below. Ben stopped his timer right when they heard the sound.

“One point five-seven seconds,” said Ben.

Jack dug through his pack and pulled out a paper and pencil. “Let’s see, it’s one point five-seven times itself, then times thirty-two point two and divided by two.” he said.

“What the hell are you doing?” asked Stephen.

“Don’t you have physics down south?” asked Ben.

Jack looked up. “That’s weird — it’s almost forty feet deep. I would have thought the whole building was shorter than that.”

“I could have been a little slow with the timer,” said Ben. “Or maybe the foundation goes underground.”

“Well I don’t think you were late — at least not by much,” said Jack.

“Couldn’t you just lower down fishing line?” asked Stephen. “That would tell us how deep it is.”

“How are we going to measure the length of the line?” answered Jack. “Besides, there’s nothing wrong with this method.”

“Well, it’s not that far across anyway,” said Stephen. Without consulting his friends, he removed his pack, swung it back and forth and then pitched it across the hole to the other side. It landed heavily and skidded to a stop. “Hold my light” said Stephen.

“You’re crazy,” said Jack.

“I long-jump father than that in gym class,” Stephen protested. He retreated fifteen feet from the edge and waved Jack and Ben away from the center. “Look out.”

Stephen started to run and then stopped himself. “Hey Ben, point your light at the edge, and Jack, you point yours at the other side.” When the lights were arranged to his satisfaction, Stephen backed up again. This time he accelerated and launched.

Jack held his breath as Stephen flew past him. Stephen landed easily on his feet on the other side.

“You in?” Jack asked Ben.

“I guess,” said Ben. “You first.”

“Hey — catch,” Jack threw his pack over the edge and Stephen caught it on the other side. He looked once more over the edge and then underhand-tossed his flashlight to Stephen also.

He backed up to about where Stephen had started and then Jack ran at the edge. He was nervous and almost didn’t jump at the right time, but he willed himself across the gap and landed on one knee.

Ben followed Jack, executing his jump impulsively with a very small running-start, but easily clearing the gap.

“That wasn’t too bad,” Stephen paused, and then joked “For us — you seemed a little challenged, Jack.”

“Shut up,” laughed Jack. “I made it, didn’t I?”

“Barely,” Ben stated.

“Let’s see where this bitch takes us,” said Stephen.

They headed down the dark passage. It still had a construction look — stud walls and plywood floor. They moved slowly and silently. There was a lot of detail to take in and they didn’t want to miss any potential clues.

Ben finally broke the silence, “Did you guys name this section yet?”

“Nope,” said Jack, “not yet.”

“What about ‘The Attic,’” Ben offered.

“Good,” said Stephen, “but we were talking — it doesn’t have a sloped ceiling, like an attic.”

“Still reminds me of an attic though,” said Jack.

“Okay, then it’s the attic,” said Stephen.

“Looks like the end of the attic is coming up,” said Jack. He shone his light to the end of the room where a wall impeded their progress. On the left side, a doorway-sized hole led to stairs going down. The stairs continued down for five steps, had a landing, and then turned right. There’s was no railing and the treads were made of the same plywood as the floor on which they stood. Above the stairs, the ceiling wasn't sloped, so it didn’t look like a normal staircase — it looked like the stairs descended impossibly deep.

“After all this — these stairs give me the creeps,” said Jack. “You ever see that movie — ‘The People Under the Stairs?’”

“Yeah,” said Ben. “Where the stairs flatten out and they’re like a ramp.”

“Exactly,” said Jack. “I guess we could get back up by climbing those boards like a ladder.” Jack waved his light at the unfinished stud-wall.”