Agnes descended step after slow step, gripping the side railing. Clara had a death grip on the back of Agnes’ shirt. Maybelle’s miserable howl sounded closer. Reaching the bottom, she shone her light around the basement. Where had the two animals gone? They had seemingly vanished.
She shivered. It was cold down here and it felt damp. Her phone picked out boxes, shelves lined with jars, a few rickety-looking chairs and lots and lots of shadows, but no dog and no cat.
“Where did they go?” Clara asked, her voice shaky.
“Shhh. I thought I heard something.” Agnes moved deeper into the basement, brushing a cobweb out of her face.
“I thought I did too,” Clara whispered. “They sound far away or muffled. Could they have gotten outside?”
“I don’t know,” Agnes said. “I didn’t even know this room was here, so who knows?” Raising her voice, she called, “Maybelle! Where are you?”
A pitiful howl answered her, but it sounded like it was from a distance. “I think they are still here,” Agnes said. “They may have fallen into a box or gotten caught on something.” She called again and once more, heard Maybelle.
“Is that a Louis XV chair?” Clara asked, sounding excited. “Shine that light over this way.”
Agnes turned around to see where her friend had gone. As she did, her foot caught on a rug which lay rumpled on the floor. Stumbling backward, she reached out her hand to catch herself and touched a wall. But the wall didn’t help at all. It moved as Agnes fell against it. She felt herself plunging backward. Something soft, warm, and wiggly broke her fall. “Yip!” cried Maybelle, as Agnes landed on top of her.
“I found you!” Agnes cried, wrapping her arms around her dog. Candy, too, rubbed against her leg which would have been amazing and rewarding if the circumstances had been different. As it was, she seemed to be in the same predicament as her pets. Her light shone on a small, enclosed space, empty except for her, Maybelle, and Candy and…something else. What was that in the corner? Something white and shiny shone in her phone’s beam. Her scalp tightened and her heart seemed to stop as she recognized what lay in the room with her. Horror and panic filled her mind, crowding out thought. She scrabbled for the door to this room. Where was it? How had she gotten in if there was no door? She could find no way out. She was trapped with her cat and dog and that thing, that horrible thing in the corner.
“Clara!” she screamed, beating on the wall. “Clara! Get us out of here. Hurry!” She pounded on the wall with both fists, her phone on the floor at her feet. Maybelle crowded close beside her, adding her howls to the racket.
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