The One Who Hides in the Dark

It was just an average day. I was home alone and had nothing to do. I was trying to hit up some of my friends to see if they wanted to do anything. Out of the few friends I texted, my friend Sam replied that he would be over to hang out. Sam was a great friend of mine. We had been friends since I moved into the neighborhood when I was five. Sam lived a few houses down and would always hang out with me when we were younger. Now, he would be busy with work or doing stuff for school. I would be busy myself with lacrosse but I wasn't able to attend practice today due to me fracturing my arm during a game.
Sam was at my house about five minutes after I texted him. He came in and we immediately went into the basement. I turned on my PlayStation and TV and we started to play 007 Legends. We loved playing 007 Legends. The multiplayer was always fun to play. We mostly enjoyed both Conflict and The Golden Gun more than the other multiplayer modes.
We first played The Golden Gun mode on the Smelting Room map. I crushed Sam for the whole ten minutes of that game by hiding in the air vents and shooting Sam every time he tried to get me. The next game we played was Conflict in the Biodome. It didn't go well for me. The final round we played was Conflict in the Ice Hotel. It was a very close game. We mainly fought over the bedroom that was located on the map. In the end, I won the game.
"Hey Matt, whose lighter is this?" Sam asked me.
I turned to him. He was holding my brother's lighter. My brother had moved out of the house after he graduated college about a year ago. I haven't seen him in months.
"Where did you find it?" I asked.
"I found it under the couch," Sam answered. "When we were playing, my phone fell from my lap and I guess I kicked it under the couch since that's where I found it. After we were finished playing, I got my phone and I found that lighter."
I held the lighter in my hand. It was a small, silver lighter that had the words "Congratulations Paul. Love Mom, Dad, and Matthew." It was like the lighter from the 007 movie, License to Kill, my brother's favorite Bond film. It was given to him as a gift from my parents when he finished college. I was surprised that it would be down here. I would have found it sooner if I wasn't so busy with lacrosse.
"Thanks Sam," I said.
Sam started to walk up the stairs as I started to turn off the lights. As I did this, I looked to the back of the basement to see something standing there. It was dark on that half of the basement since I had switched the lights off but something was there. I thought my eyes were playing with me. I turned on the lights of that half to see no one standing there. When I turned the lights in the back off, it was there again.
"Matt?" Sam asked. "What are you doing?"
"Come down here and look at this," I replied. "I don't know if my eyes are playing with me."
Sam walked down the stairs. I pointed in the direction of where I saw that thing.
"Do you see it?" I asked.
"Yeah," Sam answered. "But what is it?"
We looked at the thing. Whatever it was, it was wearing all black since I could only see its hands that were pale white. I could tell it was looking down towards the ground since I couldn't see its face. I turned the lights on one more time and then back off. When I did that, it was much closer. Me and Sam got scared and rushed up the stairs. We were almost to the door until it slammed shut. We tried to open the door but the doorknob wouldn't turn. It was like the door was locked. But the door's lock was on our side of the door.
"What the hell is going on?" Sam asked as he shook with fright.
"I have no clue!" I replied.
We stopped trying to open the door and started to listen. It was dead silent. The thing down there wasn't making any noise. Me and Sam just sat there, wondering what we could do. As I sat there, I remembered that we have a fire escape in the basement. It was in the weight room that I would occasionally use to workout. The door to the room was immediately to the right at the bottom of the stairs.
"Sam," I said. "We can use the fire escape to get out."
"Let's get the hell out of here," Sam immediately replied.
We both got up and readied ourselves to make a run to the fire escape. I quietly started to count down.
"Three... two... one... go."
Sam and I ran down the stairs. Sam got to the door first and opened it. I immediately got down the stairs behind him but stopped to look at the back of the dark basement. The thing was gone. It was nowhere to be seen. I turned around to see the lights on in the weight room. I ran into the room and saw Sam heading towards the fire escape.
"Sam wait up dammit," I said.
Sam was getting close to the fire escape. I quickly made my way to Sam without tripping over weights that laid on the floor. As I was right behind Sam, the lights in the room flickered off. We were now surrounded by darkness. As I stood there, I remembered that there was another door that led to this room. The door was to the right of us at the end of the room. I turned to the right and saw the door. It was open. I turned to see Sam opening the door to the fire escape.
"Sam don't!" I screamed.
Sam opened the door to be lunged at by that thing. The thing tackled Sam to the ground and started to pound on him. I wanted to help Sam but when that thing looked at me, I couldn't. That thing's face was pale like its hands. I could see old scars around its face. Its eyes were bloodshot and the pupils were pure black as night. It opened its mouth to let out a bloodcurdling scream. When it did, I saw its yellow teeth and gray tongue. As it screamed, it drove its hands into Sam's body. I was horrified and ran out of the room.
As I made my way out, I could hear Sam gurgling and screaming in pain. I ran up the stairs and tried to bust the door down. I couldn't do it. I soon fell to the ground sobbing. I let one of my good friends be killed by this thing that hid in the darkness of my basement. I sat on the stairs, waiting for my time to come. It was now silent. Sam's screaming had stopped. I put my hands over my eyes as I started to cry.
Then the door to the weight room slammed shut. It startled me. I looked up and waited, waited for that thing to attack me. I wasn't going to go down without a fight. The lights of the basement started to flicker. I readied myself. The basement lights soon flickered off. The only source of light I had left was the lightbulb right above me. I looked up and that light was also flickering. I looked at the light until I was surrounded by darkness. I sat there, waiting.
It felt like forever until I realized that I had my brother's lighter in my pocket. I quickly reached into my pocket, grabbed the lighter, and lit up the stairwell with light. The lighter shook in my hand as I held it out to see the end of the stairs better. As I looked down the stairs, the lighter had turned off.
"Goddammit," I said to myself. My thumb had slipped off the button.
I quickly tried to relight the lighter. I tried again and again until it came back on. This time I held my hand to make it stop shaking. As I sat there, I started to hear breathing behind me. I slowly looked behind me to see that thing looking at me. It soon released a bloodcurdling scream.
Category:Beings