Silly Old Rug

“Hello? Janie, are you listening?” Rick waved his hand in front of her eyes.

“Uh huh,” she muttered absentmindedly swatting his hand out of her way.

“I’m going to go look at that cute house for sale during lunch, the one we drove by a few days ago. Do you remember the one?” He asked again as he looked at his wife engrossed in whatever she was doing on her cell phone.

“Ok,” was her somber response. He leaned down and brushed a kiss on her cheek as he left for work.

“Come in, come in!” The Realtor chirped in an excited voice. “Look around all you want, everything has been updated and is in pristine condition. The HVAC is new, the water heater is new and the roof was replaced last year. There are terrific hardwood floors throughout and all rooms have a fresh coat of paint.” She relayed as she sashayed through the foyer.

Rick wanted to move out of the apartment and this house with the great curb appeal sure caught his eye. He walked in and out of all the rooms and looked at the updated kitchen with all new stainless steel appliances. He was impressed, he just had to get Janie out to look at this fantastic house.

He opened a door that led to the special two car garage with a work bench, which he loved. He opened another door into a powder room. The third door he opened led into a basement. It was a finished basement with a bar and seating area and a cable TV hookup, perfect for a man cave, great for Sunday and Monday night football and all summer baseball. It was precisely what he was looking for.

Rick thanked the realtor and left.

Janie stood and looked at the house from the outside. She saw the realtor looking out the window, she gave a quick wave that went unnoticed. Janie opened the door and a gust of stale air rushed past her. She stepped over the threshold and a sudden sadness settled over her. She immediately wanted to leave, but she did tell Rick she would look at the house.

The Realtor was curt as she told her the great features and updates the house had. Janie walked through the house. She opened the door to the garage and the powder room. The third door she opened, was just a dark stairway into the basement, Rick raved about.

She felted around fora light switch she never found. She stepped down the first step and another when the cool, musty breeze engulfed her. Janie waved both hands over her head hoping to find a cord or string for an overhead light, but again no luck. The stench was stronger and was something disgusting she couldn’t even describe. She found herself standing in a dark pit. She couldn’t see anything.  The floor was uneven and pitted and when she tried to take a step she bumped into something and fell to her knees immediately feeling a cold, wet stickiness on her pants. Before panic could consume her she reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone and pressed the icon for the trusty little flashlight feature.

When the bright light pierced through the darkness, Janie screamed at the gory site that was illuminated. The walls were crumbling but when she got a closer look, it wasn’t crumbling brick it was bones and skulls that were crushed into something resembling a wall. In one corner were shackles hanging from the joists with decaying corpses swinging with their feet, which were half skin and half bone, just scraping the bloody, dirty floor. Janie gagged and threw up. When she swung around, in another corner was a gurney with another body decomposing with rats scurrying over it, the third corner was barely visible, but she did see the bodies, in varying stages of decomposition, staked down to the floor, with a slimy wet outline surrounding each body. She was so disgusted, and before fear overtook her she tried to turn her phone over to call for help. She pressed the phone icon and instantly received a NO SERVICE notification bar across the top. She closed her eyes and lost her bearing, she turned in circles, trying to find the stairs back out of this hell hole.

 Janie thought she couldn’t have stepped more than two or three feet away, however, she could not find the steps. After what seemed to be hours, she finally felt the bottom step and lifted her foot to climb the stairwell. She climbed and climbed to no end. She screamed and hollered for help to no avail. She sat on the steps and tried texting – she texted Rick – HELP ME! LOOKING AT THE FOR SALE HOUSE! NASTY BASEMENT, CALL POLICE, HELP ME. Again, Janie received only the NO SERVICE notification.

Rick received the text from Janie – LOOKING AT THE FOR SALE HOUSE. He was excited the Janie even left the apartment, she normally wouldn’t.

Rick arrived again at the house, however, this time the curb appeal didn’t appear the same. There was a different realtor who barely spoke a word as he walked into the house. He walked all through the house wondering where Janie was. When he opened the door to check out the basement again, there was nothing only a coat closet.  There were no stairs, he closed the door in confusion.

“Doesn’t this house have a basement?” He asked the realtor.

“Nope, not this house.” She replied with no other explanation.

“I was just here this morning and was down in the basement”, he tried to explain.

“No, no, you must be mistaken, there is no basement.” She replied again.

When Rick opened the door again, hoping to see the stairs, saw nothing but a rolled up carpet in the corner. He pulled it out and before he could turn around the realtor said…

“oh, that, that’s just a silly old rug!” and walked out of the house.