The Blue Corridor

Chapter One: Boxes

As they passed the squeaky iron gate and a little garden in front of their porch Sophia opened the door to the house with excitement. Maisie followed her with some forced eagerness, but Daniel stayed behind lifeless. He didn't want to be there. He was disappointed. Even though they lit all the lights the interior was still a bit dark, which made him sleepy again. They walked through the first floor seeing their new kitchen, living room, bathroom... Under the staircase leading to the second floor, there was the basement to which Mother opened the door and took a glimpse inside, noticing all the clutter, and decided to deal with it later. She left the door semi-open. Walking upstairs there were three bedrooms, an office, and another bathroom. They distributed the bedrooms amongst themselves, took out most of their bagages, and went to sleep after their long and exhausting journey.

That night Daniel was having a nightmare. In a dark corridor, he was running away from something. A monster. He didn't see it, but he was feeling it. He was looking ahead of him looking at the group of people. He tried to scream to them for help but he couldn't. This clunky bulge inside of his throat was blocking any word he tried to speak or shout. He suddenly woke up. He laid still for a second collecting his thoughts. As he tried to do so he could only feel the discomfort of laying in this bed. The pillow was too stiff, the mattress was too hard. He flipped the pillow and tried to change his position a little bit. It didn't work. He felt that his throat was dry. Everything was irritating. He stood up, exiting the room. Before he left he took a look at the clock. It was midnight.

He walked downstairs. The house was silent. No lights were on, but at this point his eyes were adapted, seeing in the grim dark surroundings pretty well. He visited the bathroom and walking out he headed to the fridge. He opened it, filling the kitchen with its bluish-white light. He took a sip of water. He felt a bit better but still tired. Going back to the stairs he noticed the door to the basement. They were still semi-open. A little spark of curiosity filled his mind as he wondered if he should go down there. A single car drove by the house filling it with the yellow lights of its headlights for a brief moment, but it wasn't enough to help Daniel see what hides in the darkness that resided behind the basement door. He could only see the stairs leading downward. Nothing to be seen, nothing to be heard.

With no one around him Daniel's mind was filled with a sense of discovery he hadn't felt for a long time. He slowly descended the dusty staircase into the pure darkness of the basement. When he reached the bottom Daniel looked around the basement but he couldn't see anything, but he could feel something. The aura of the place was menacing. It was making him want to run away. but before that happened he noticed the light switch on the wall just a few meters away from him. He turned on the basement lights to see the cluster he had never seen in his entire life.

A whole set of rustic furniture at least 100 years old. Cabinets locked with padlocks. Shelves stacked with books. Jars filled with uneasy-looking gunk. Boxes on top of the boxes on top of other boxes. Everything was covered with thick layers of dust. A menacing aura still hung in the air, but it was immediately covered by the tremendous amount of curiosity that filled Daniel's mind. This single look at the place made him forget about all his problems. In this single moment, he felt happy. The problem was he couldn't even find a way around the basement as it filled to the limits of its capacity.

He saw the table in the middle. It was empty, so he could try to climb on it and scavenge all the boxes from there. Trying to get to that table he looked through some of the boxes separating it from him. Many were filled with books that probably didn't fit the shelves. There were some old toys, and plushies, but nothing that interested Daniel that much. He placed all the boxes near the only empty little segment of the wall, just in front of the staircase.

When Daniel gained access to the table he decided to open just one more box lying on the ground. As he opened it he saw a huge amount of old jewelry. All the rings, earrings, and necklaces were nicely segregated around having separate little boxes. He looked through them and found one that really captured his attention. In a little matte black box lay a silver necklace with a beautiful deep blue shiny crystal attached to it.