In Regard to Our Existence (Paranormal/Horror)

Part 5 (Final part)

Descent into the cellar below the home was horrifically dark. My pupils dilated to reveal Alexander against the far wall peering into a dark cage like structure. A curious substance coated its bottom. The green and luminescent substance could not be labeled with any earthly classification of matter. But more disturbing than the sight of the strange substance was to see the door to the cage forcibly thrown open, and its metal padlock crumpled into uselessness. Whatever the old man had kept captive here was no longer bound.

I nervously fingered the tattered riddle, or more appropriately labeled a warning, in my coat pocket. So far from sunlight, the stairs seemed to beckon us into ascent. How now I wish I had complied! Taken aback by the strange find, I stumbled backward. This is the point in which the doctors tell me my senses were subject to hallucination or that I had merely misinterpreted the unsettling noise behind me. This is the point in which I heard a syrupy gurgling omitted from the blackest corner of the room. A desperate fear gripped my very soul and propelled me into a headlong run for daylight. All that was to be heard from behind was a leathery flap of wings and the woeful screams of Alexander Green.

One might inquire as to why I did not attempt to rescue my friend, but I tell you that in light of such horrid and foreign evil no amount of chivalry or companionship could entice me to brave even a step nearer to that dark, depraved place.