The Freaks | Sally Face

Chapter 110: Saving Grace

"So, I guess Mr Packerton didn't know about any secret cult?" Larry sounded defeated. "Maybe Packerton isn't part of them.."

"You've got to be joking" Travis scoffed, standing up in position again. "That wicked old broad had her husband chained up, fighting for his non existent life for god knows how long and you don't believe she's part of my Dad's group of freaks?" 

"Plus, she has the goat's head in the fridge Larry, the satanic markings are all over that slab. She knows and chances are, she was keeping Mr Packerton alive to sacrifice him too..." 

"Yeah, I guess you're both right. Look, I know we've just essentially helped a man die but we need to keep looking for that damn doorway. Like he said, we have to hurry before she returns... and once she finds out we ended her husbands' suffering, who knows what she could do to us next..."

We all agreed, shuddering as we now realised what this little old lady could do to a person and started our mission again. As we ripped it apart, more of the satanic symbols were drawn over the damped filled walls. I checked inside the dressers, several pieces of paper scattered inside all talking about the death of Mr Packerton. There were hospital letters, news articles about him dying in a car accident and finally a death certificate stating Mr Packerton died over 4 years ago. I felt an aggressive stab in my chest, surely Mrs Packerton had not kept this poor man in a vegetative state for 4 years.. I put the papers back into the drawers, not wanting to share the painful news to the boys and continued searching for any other evidence.  

"Hey guys?" Larry's panicked voice surfaced from over beside Mr Packerton's dead body. 

"Yeah?" I turn, seeing where he was looking. "Is that?"

"The carpet is all torn up underneath his bed. Do you think?"

"We have to try..." Travis ran over, taking charge to move Mr Packerton's wheeled bed over towards the wardrobes". 

Larry threw himself onto the floor and began to pull at the torn carpet. I got down too, helping him pull it towards us, praying something was going to reveal itself. When we finally had enough pulled back, we let it go - standing once again and staring at the floor. 

There it was, a large wooden door attached to some thick metal hinges with a circular handle placed on the other side. "Shit" I exclaim. "I think we've found it..."

"That must be what this is for..." Travis held up another key, this one larger and looked as if it was centuries old. "I found it underneath the life support machine, the key ring caught my attention as I dropped the plug.."

"We need to open it and get moving..." Larry's panic beginning to rise. 

Travis leant over, placing the key into the lock and turning it. Immediately, the key moved with him only proving this was the right key to give us access to whatever lay beneath us. It was happening, this was all going to end soon - we were going to catch these monsters. As the key could not be turned anymore, Travis grabbed hold of the circular handle, twisting it and began to pull it upwards. As he was still weak, both Larry and I grabbed the door and flipped it backwards until it thudded against the floor. I looked down, seeing only wooden stairs that went down who knows how deep. It was so dark down there, no ounce of life or light anywhere.

"Get the others, we need to go..." I whisper, sending Travis to grab Lisa, Todd and Ashley. When he left, I found myself looking at Larry, fear smeared across both of our faces as we didn't know how this was going to end. I fought my emotions back, I had to be strong, I had to be focused for everyone here - they weren't going to beat us, we were going to win. 

The others piled in, immediately holding their nose from the foul smell that was in every single crevasse of the room. When they noticed the body of the recently deceased Mr Packerton, I honestly thought Ash was going to faint. We didn't have time to fill them in on the horrors we had seen, we had to get moving and we had to move fast. I volunteered to be the first to go down, if they saw me first - it might give the others the opportunity to run. Larry tried to fight me on this, but I wasn't going to back down. The stairs were fragile and each one I went down, it echoed through the void below. The further I went, I heard the small pitter patters of other footsteps following behind me. I lifted up my phone, turning on the torch to allow me to see where I was stepping. To say I felt I was walking into nothingness was an understatement. No matter what way I shone my torch, it wouldn't light up anything other than the stairs we were on.