It Has Arrived

Chapter 1 - Small and Dark Spaces make for Very Scared Faces

It was a peculiar morning for the Brecken family; one which started with light rain and fog that surrounded their house, which was situated in the center of a large field. The Breckens were farmers, so they were aware of this morning's weather days in advance. The rain, however, was not what made this morning so peculiar.

They were seated around a large circular table, eating breakfast, in their bright yellow kitchen. Mr. Brecken was, as a father typically does while at the table, watching the local news on a small television across the room. Mrs. Brecken was next to him, but instead of watching along, she was busy arguing with their youngest son, who would not eat his oatmeal. Sitting across from Mrs. Brecken, Thomas was slowly eating his food as he painfully waited for the time at which he must start his chores, 10:30 am, exactly.

Of course, I know that whoever is reading this must be wondering, "what in the world could make this typical family breakfast strange?" Well, as the Breckens sat and ate their eggs, bacon, and white, Georgian grits, they heard a sudden thud inside the pantry at the corner of the kitchen. This alone, they did not notice, as random creaks, cracks, and thuds could be heard at any moment in a house that is at least twenty years old. Normally, however, one does not hear the exact same noise come from the exact same location within seconds of the first.

"Anybody else hear that?" Mr. Brecken asked although he saw everyone else react to it. "Thomas, will you please go see what it is?"

"It's probably just another rat, dad. I'm sure he'll get stuck on a trap," Thomas replied spitefully, not wanting to leave his seat and let his food cool.

Mrs. Brecken countered Thomas. "Do not argue with your father, Thomas. Even if it is a rat, it needs to be kept away from the food. Surely you wouldn't want to get sick"

Not wanting to make his mother angry, he left the table and walked to the pantry, slowly dragging his feet to show his parents how badly he wished to be eating. He opened the pantry door and found, as he had predicted, a rat. Behind the rat, at the back of the pantry, was a large hole that went all the way through to the crawl space beneath their home. Seeing this, he knew he would be the one chosen to fix the hole. He closed the door quickly, so as to not let the rat escape, and turned to face his mother and father, who were impatiently waiting for him to say what he had seen.

"'Twas but only a rat," he said sarcastically in response to their glaring eyes. With a glance at his mother, he knew that she was suspicious of his claim.

"Are you sure it was only a rat?"

"Yes mother, dear, I am positive it was only a rat that I saw in the pantry by itself." With that comment, she threw her head down into her hands for a quick moment before standing from her seat.

"Why must you always be so difficult?" He knew in that moment that he would not get himself out of this predicament. As she neared the door, Thomas tried to make quick remarks about how she never believed him, trying to bide his time in hope that she might forgive him for her distrust. He blocked the door, but her angry eyes shot fire into his soul. He removed himself from his mother's path, not wanting to have any further punishment, apart from what he was about to receive.

Mrs. Brecken slowly opened the door of the pantry, trying hard not to let the rat out, and peeked towards to the floor. She first saw that the rat had become stuck on a trap made from glue in a plastic container, and preceded to open the door the rest of the way. She then noticed the hole and turned around to face Thomas.

"It's just a hole. Why didn't you just say it was a hole? Did you think I would get mad at you because of a hole that a rat made?"

"I just didn't want to have to fix it myself. I'd rather get all of my other things done so I had time to... I don't know mom I just didn't..."

"You didn't what? You didn't want to get a one-way ticket to under the house? Well, you have it now!"

Thomas ran through the kitchen and up the stairs into his room, but although he wished to slam his door and kick the wall, he restrained himself to keep from making matters worse. He threw himself onto his bed and looked over at his clock and grunted because he could only hide for fifteen minutes. He flipped onto his back and stared at the ceiling, and thought about what he had to do to fix the hole. He pulled up his sheets, and as he lay there in his warm, comfortable bed, he fell asleep.

BANG! The door flew open and his father rushed in. "Thomas, what the hell do you think you're doing! You were supposed to start an hour ago! Your mother and I have been outside working, and you've been up here in bed?!"

"Dad, I'm sorry when I came up here I pulled up the sheets and I just drifted off, I guess. Please don't be mad. It was just an accident, honestly."

"I don't care. You should've known how long you had and come down when you were supposed to."

Mr. Brecken left Thomas alone in his room so he could get dressed for the day. He walked out of the house and directly into their shed to gather tools to fix the hole. He knew exactly what to do because, being an older house, he had fixed other holes before. He went out of the shed and gazed out into the field for a moment, as he longed to leave his home. Grocery day was on Saturdays, but the Breckens rarely left home for any other reason. Thomas continued to the small door at the back of the house and kneeled down to open it.

As he fiddled with the latch, his dog, Sawyer, trotted next to him, begging to be loved. Thomas reached over to pet him, saying, "One day, you and I are going to leave here and never come back." Because Sawyer is just a dog, he stared at Thomas with a happy face and enjoyed the attention he was receiving. Thomas knew his dog didn't understand him, but, as many people with an animal do, he liked to have a companion to whom he could confess his deepest secrets.

He opened the door and looked around, checking for spiders or other creatures that could have made their way in. He carefully crawled to where he could see light coming through the floor above him and picked through his tools, trying to finish the job as quickly as possible. Ever since he was a young child, Thomas always had a fear of the crawlspace. He was seventeen now but still had his suspicions.

At the age of four, he was out in the garden by himself - his father had just walked into the shed - while the door to the crawlspace was open. Being only four, he was very curious, so he ran over to the door, and stopped in front of it. He stared into the darkness in front of him, and slowly stepped into the unknown void. Carefully stepping on the crunchy plastic used to keep the ground dry, he ventured deeper into an area never before seen by his eyes

He heard his father call for him but didn't turn around. Instead, he kept moving closer to the center, where the downstairs air conditioning unit was located. Suddenly, he thought he heard a deep growling noise to his right. He looked over and saw two glowing orange balls of flame staring back at him. The haunting sight struck a fear so deep into him that he had dreams about what could be behind those eyes for years.

Even now, at seventeen, Thomas still periodically glanced to his right to make sure nothing was there. He continued working on the hole, trying hard to make no mistakes. After about half an hour, his father checked on him to make sure he was actually working, given the earlier incident, and was happy to see that Thomas was nearly done.

"Well, Tom, you surprised me. You can have a ten-minute break once you are done, and I mean only ten minutes," Mr. Brecken said as he crawled out of the door.

Thomas finished patching the hole and sat there in the dank crawlspace, admiring his work. He gathered all of the tools he had brought in with him and began making his way out, stopping just before he exited. Suddenly feeling like something was watching him, Thomas slowly turned around to look back one more time. He scanned the area where he had just been. He continued out the door, feeling stupid for thinking anything was there.