It had been knocking all night. Thump thump. Thump thump. I had been home alone all weekend, wondering where this sound was coming from. I chose the middle of the night to walk down into the basement with a torch. This was an old Victorian style home that belonged to my wife’s family going back generations. It was on our first date that she told me about some of the myths and legends surrounding the house--notably the game of hide n' seek where a kid from the surrounding area was never found during or after the game. His name was Sid. Sid Hornby. In the basement, there was a hatch that led by ladder down to a network of tunnels leading to various areas of the surrounding landscape. Around town there were manhole covers in different areas that these tunnels led to. I have never found out the original purpose of these tunnels, but many suspected that Sid Hornby tried to hide in the tunnels and got lost. The manhole that was the furthest distance away from the house was three miles out. Some believed that he climbed up one of the ladders and found himself lost, never to be found again. Or rather, never found by one of us. There was only one suspect in question while the police were thinking about a potential kidnapping. His name was Barnaby Winchester. He was a strange old man that lived alone at the end of Rat Street. On the day that Sid went missing nobody could provide an alibi for old Barnaby. He said he had gone to the store around the time that the game of hide and seek took place, but the young man that was working that day couldn’t remember him. The case was dropped when too little evidence was brought against him. Some say that he can occasionally be seen walking around town and abroad the landscape, sometimes near where the manhole covers lie, but I’ve never seen this, and others I know say that the old man stays in his house or goes to the store.

I made it to the bottom of the steps. The electricity in the basement had been out for a week. All I had was that torch. Somewhere there was dripping water. As a cold draft flew past me, a shiver went down my spine. Whatever lived down here didn’t know the sun. The ground was made of concrete and was cracked in many places. There were wooden beams to support the ceiling. They were covered in cobwebs that hung like silky strands of cloud. I started to wonder why I had even come down here in the first place. Was the sound really that important? I easily could have put on music, or the television, but my curiosity had gotten the best of me. I felt it might lead to my doom. I suddenly heard scuttling across the floor. I turned to my left and could have sworn I saw a dark figure darting into the shadows. My heart began to pound. I began to tremble.

“H-hello?”

No response. And then my blood turned to ice. Out of the corner of the basement, the form of a young boy crawling on all fours came out into the light of my torch. His eyes were bright red.

He spoke, “…run.”

Suddenly an old man came running out of the shadows right towards me. I fled upstairs. The second I was safely in the light I threw my torch back down at what I thought was the man. Something went up in flames. I slammed the door shut. And then it dawned on me—those wooden posts. Would the house somehow burn down? I did not know. All I knew was I just saw something…I didn’t want to think about it. I ran outside and looked back at the house. Something horrible, some horrible feeling was gripping me. Was that boy Sid? Was that old man Barnaby? I had no idea. I began to run away. I ran as fast as I could. And I never saw that house again.